Give Me Envy, Give Me Malice, Give Me Your Attention

When William Beckett walked into his room the next day, his… heart? ... immediately lurched at the sight before him. Bella had her back to him, head held high as she moved swiftly around the room to gather her belongings and pack them in a large white suitcase. He watched, frozen, for the next few minutes as she maneuvered around, dumping bundles of expensive stitched materials and tossing fancy shoes over her shoulder to land with stunning precision into the bag she was packing. He knew that she knew he was there; she refused to allow him even a glimpse of her face. What did this mean? She knew, obviously. But what about Anna? Was she dead?

“Bella…”

She tossed a look of pure disgust and almost-hatred over her shoulder, causing him to shrink back a little.

“I can’t do this anymore, William.”

Her voice was strong and unwavering. She had made up her mind. And he wasn’t sure if he could persuade her to change it.

“What do you…”

“Cut the bullshit, William,” Bella spat, her glare now fixed with full force on his face and her hands on her hips. “You know what this is about.”

He gulped, but didn’t say anything. This seemed to anger her more.

“You tried to kill my best friend!” she shrieked. “You poisoned her, and you don’t even feel a hint of remorse!”

He froze. Anna wasn’t dead. How was she not dead? This wasn’t supposed to happen. She was supposed to die because of Patrick’s ‘mistake’ and William was going to be there to comfort a grieving Bella. This was all wrong.

Bella’s nose and top lip rose in distaste as she looked at him, before turning on her heel and crouching down to zip up her full bag.

“How… how do you know?” he managed to croak out, immediately biting his tongue and trying to bite back the words, knowing that it was too late.

Bella stood back up, whipping her long hair around. In the huge heels she wore, she was about three inches away from matching William’s height.

“Pete called me,” she said icily. “He told me everything. Did you know that our garden grew the infrequent curing herb, or was that just a stroke of unbelievable coincidence?”

William didn’t say anything and chose instead to avoid her piercing aqua green gaze and stare at the ground instead. She let out a frustrated huff through her nose, lifting her heavy bag effortlessly.

“This is the final straw, William. This is unforgivable. I can’t stop loving you, but I can stop being with you and right now that’s incredibly easy for me to visage.”

“No, wait!”

He stretched out a long arm ad grabbed her arm, but she pulled away from him angrily.

“Don’t you dare try and stop me.”

“Where are you going, Bella? This is ridiculous. Come on, don’t…”

“I have an idea. But it’s none of your concern where I go, anyway.”

“Bell…”

“Consider yourself dumped.”

She spun around, walking in the opposite direction of the door and confusing William greatly.

“I thought you said you loved me,” he tried calling.

“I do,” she said, not looking at him. “But I’ve been choosing you over my friends for too long now.”

With that, she fiercely flung open the massive windows in their room, the weather outside storming and flashing lightning to match her mood perfectly.

“Bella!” William cried, but it was too late. She’d already stepped onto the ledge and jumped out into the night, disappearing with incredible speed.

William Beckett, in this moment, was left vulnerable.

***

“I left William.”

Anna and Ryan looked up at the wet figure that had just walked in, disturbing them from their nothingness.

“What?” Ryan asked.

“I couldn’t do it anymore. Not after what he did to you,” she directed at Anna.

The two nodded, but inside Anna felt a sharp pang in her chest knowing that, if possible, William hated her even more now.

“Are you okay?” Anna asked her, concerned.

She just nodded.

“I will be.”

They remained in silence for a few minutes, Bella dripping rainwater onto the linoleum floor. What was there to say? They were all just trying to figure out where everything stood now, and what was going to happen. After a few more minutes, the most immediate question was asked.

“So are you going to be staying here?” Pete asked, appearing behind Bella in the doorway. “I mean, it’s fine if you do. We could make room…”

Bella shook her head.

“No. Thank you for the offer, but I have somewhere else I intend on going.”

Anna frowned.

“Where?”

***

Andy Mrotek frowned as the doorbell rang. They weren’t expecting anyone, were they? He armed himself with a wooden stake, as well as the silver dagger that was permanently hidden at his foot, before rising cautiously to his feet.

“Lara?” he called out.

The tall, fragile blonde walked into the room moments later, smiling and playing with her fluffy black and brown cat. She obviously hadn’t heard the doorbell.

“Yeah?” she asked him casually as Dribbles, her cat, clawed softly at her finger for attention.

“Are we expecting anyone?” he asked, trying to keep the hint of panic out of his voice.

Her light-hearted smile instantly vanished and she placed Dribbles down on the floor as the bell rang again.

“Not that I can recall…”

She trailed off and moved closer to him, both of them facing the door anxiously. He took her hand protectively in his rough one and entwined their fingers as they slowly made their way down a corridor and to the door. He cast a glance her way and she bit her lip, nodding quickly, before he carefully undid a few locks and bolts, opening the door a crack.

The sight of three people on their doorstep made his eyes widen in disbelief, and Lara was instantly worried about his expression. She pushed the door open further so that she could see what had made him slack-jawed, but her expression was a hundred times more dumbfounded.

“Hi Lara,” Bella murmured shyly.

Lara was terrified. This wasn’t right. What was happening? Both of her best friends… they’d died two years ago. This wasn’t real. This was insane. She was crazy. She was actually mentally disabled.

Lara was shaken from her frozen state when her fiancé quickly whipped a wooden stake out from his belt. He was clearly ready to protect her, ready to kill the vampires that had so unexpectedly shown up. But she couldn’t let him do that.

“No!” she cried out, grabbing his arm to stop him from plunging the stake deep into Bella’s chest.

Andy was clearly fighting an internal battle here, but Lara didn’t want him to kill them. And his sole purpose in life was to make her happy.

“Please, let us explain,” Anna begged, eyes big and green and pleading.

Andy and Lara exchanged meaningful looks, but eventually stepped aside to let the beautiful creatures into their home. Andy kept Lara tight by his side, just in case, and his hand never dropped the weapon.

He’d trusted a vampire once. He’d trusted his friend once.

That didn’t turn out well.

He was never going to risk that happening to his Lara.

***

“Shit,” Lara breathed after her long-lost best friends and this Ryan character had finished their tale.

She was still trying to come to terms with the fact that they weren’t dead. It made no sense. She practically saw them die! And now here they were, two years later, telling her that they’d really been transformed into vampires and had been alive… well, undead… the whole time. Somehow, it was just a little far-fetched. The vampire thing she had no problem with; William Beckett had made it quite obvious that night that they were more than merely myth. It was the fact that they were still here that Lara just couldn’t get her head around.

“Something big is going to happen,” Ryan stated. “There’s such a stir among the Dandies now. Beckett wants Anna gone from the world and Pete and Patrick and Andy and Joe have been helping us, but we need more friends. We don’t quite know our objective; I guess it’s just to keep Anna alive.”

“Well, kind of,” Anna added with a wry smile.

Lara and Andy looked between Anna and Ryan. It almost hurt to watch, he complete protection and care his eyes held and the way her eyes were trying so hard to reciprocate the look, achieving but a sliver.

“Butcher…” Ryan tried, looking at Andy, but he was interrupted.

“Whoa! Watch it. I don’t go by that nickname anymore, Ross.”

“Right. Sorry,” Ryan looked down. “It’s been a while. I just want to say that we promise not to hurt you or Lara, or any person for that matter. We drink that concoction that Fall Out Boy came up with, and that satiates our thirst.”

Still holding a grim look, Andy gave in and gave a sharp nod.

“Fine,” he mumbled. “Count us in.”

As the two men left the room, Lara, Bella and Anna couldn’t help but smile at each other and join in a long-delayed three-way hug.

Disbelief aside, they were finally together again.