As the world falls down

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"Oh come on... You really expect me to believe that?" The young woman shook her head and continued to clean the glass she was holding. "So let me get this right, the guy smashed a fist clean through your window, while you were driving, and tried to take a chunk clean out of you?" She clarified, a dark eyebrow raised in amusement. "Seriously, Jackson, if that were even a little true, why are you here in my bar and not squealing to the cops like a good little citizen?"
"Cleo! Come on!" The man who had been addressed at Jackson wailed. "I'm in shock here! Some guy tries to chow down on me, and you're not even a little worried for my well being? That's cold... Even for you!"
Cleo smiled and gently set the glass down before leaning her elbows on the bar to come face to face with Jackson, the waves of her dyed silver hair slipping over her shoulders. The bar owner always wore matt red lipstick and lots of black eyeliner around her pale blue eyes. The hint of her natural hair colour was the slice of ebony in the side of her blunt cut bangs that stopped just above her eyebrows.
The young woman often did this, stared people down until they simply cracked and told her what she wanted to know. But Jackson wasn't changing his story, which bothered her more than it should.

"Honey, it's not your fault." Ben breathed, embracing Haley tightly, even if it wasn't what she wanted right then.

"I made you bleed, didn't I?" Cleo sneered, though she wasn't strong enough to keep Edward from holding her down onto the table.

Haley returned the hug though there was none of the surrender she'd shown him before. Now it was a sisterly thing, complete with a pat on the shoulder. "I shouldn't trust people." She said after a moment. "Ali yells at me all the time about it."

"A piece of paper can make me bleed. You are nothing special." Edward hissed at her, he let go with one hand and began to strap down her wrists. "You're making a lovely test subject though. I'm wondering how I will feel when you die."

"I know you miss her..." Ben breathed, avoiding talking of pain. "Once we can be certain Edward can't track you... You never have to see me again, if that's what you want."

"How can I be a test subject when you keep me in this room?!" Cleo howled, fighting to free herself again. Anything was better than simply being forced to lie here staring at the ceiling.

Haley didn't know what to say. Finally she sighed, "you've made it clear I am not what you want. It's probably best we split up now."

"Do you think that I should let you up to wander around? Hardly.  I want to see what is making your blood different. Nothing else matters, girl." Edward snapped.

"Haley..." Ben knew he couldn't tell her what his brother had done to him to make him act the way he had, it would sound too much like a convenient excuse to the woman who had sadly been caught in the crossfire. "The last thing in the world I want is to be apart from you, but it doesn't matter what I want, it only matter's that you do what you want right now." He told her gently.

"Blood different?" Cleo echoed, her struggling suddenly ceasing as her pale blue eyes stared up at Edward. "That's a bunch of crap! My blood is nothing! Even the blood bank didn't want it!"

Haley shook her head, making it clear she didn't believe him. "I'll be fine on my own." She said turning to go back the way they'd come. "Be careful out there, Ben." She added, for a long moment watching him in the dim light. "I'm sorry Im not...her."

"You know your eyes change color." Edward remarked, sounding almost wistful. "They go from purple, to blue, to a strange aqua depending on your mood. It almost makes me want to keep you."

Ben wasn't about to let it end like this; with Haley walking into the hands of his brother. "No." He told her simply. "You're not her, and that's something to be thankful for. Shelly was damaged, too damaged. You, on the otherhand, are everything that is good, and I wont let you let them find you."

Cleo was breathing hard through her pert nose now as she tried to calm herself down when Edward breathed those words. The dark eye make up Cleo wore was a vain attempt to distract from what she was aware her eyes did. The boy from the foster home had told her it made her beautiful, the other children had called her a freak. Right then her eyes were darker than they had been when she had been brought in.

Haley sighed softly and shook her head. "You're not going to listen to me, are you?"

Edward frowned deeply and stepped back. This woman was messing with him somehow. He didn't like it.

"For now, no." Ben replied. "Those men looking for you... They would hurt you worse than I ever have."

Cleo believed she saw the same thing in Edward's eyes as she had in those of the children in the foster home. She realised her eyes must have done something different and narrowed then at her captor. "You've killed everyone else I know, why is it so fucking difficult to end me? I promise you now I'll never stop trying to escape, I'd rather die trying to get out of here than lie waiting for you to give someone else the order to kill me!"

Haley closed her eyes and took in a shaky breath. "If you think it's best. You're the sheriff after all." She said gently. She had to remind herself that he didn't want her. He couldn't have made it clearer. "We will need supplies." She told him finally.

"Oh I'm not going to let anyone else kill you." Edward said, his tone actually cheerful. "I'm going to do it myself. Don't worry your pretty head about that." He pulled something from his pocket and came back to her. He turned the syringe over ad over in his long fingers as he looked at her. "You need to sleep until I figure out what to do with you." He told her. "You don't look like you've fully rested in years."

"Haley, you know I don't want to lose you." Ben breathed. "I hurt you, and while it wasn't my fault, I am to blame. I don't want to talk about what happened, but just know I would never willingly hurt you."

"There's time for sleep when I'm dead." Cleo snarled, trying to scoot higher up the table and away from Edward, despite being strapped back down.

"It wasn't your fault?!" Haley hissed, glaring at him. It was the first time she'd given him anything but a smile. "You had your hands all over her. You..." her small fists were balled at her sides and she was trying to quell the anger.

"I completely agree." Edward purred. "But I need more blood and youre not being too helpful, my darling."

Ben saw Haley ball her fists, and stepped a little closer. "I...?" He pressed. The sheriff wasn't making excuses for what had happened, he wasn't about to burden Haley with what his brother had told him over the phone, but the least he could do was let her take her anger out on him.

Had she not had the worst case of dry mouth, Cleo would have spat in Edward's face when he called her 'my darling'. She certainly couldn't stop him from taking her blood, but it didn't mean she had to like it, evident in the dark blue hue of her eyes now.

Haley closed her eyes and held her breath, a trick she'd done since she was small. She wasn't about to lose her temper.

"See...they've done it again. How interesting." Edward breathed. "Tell me, Cleo. Is that anger you're experiencing? "

Ben had seen Haley do this before and exhaled heavily as he pushed his fingers through his hair. "We can get supplies once we're far away from those men looking for you." He told her quietly.

"All I know is anger, you sick son of a bitch!" Cleo howled, though she screwed her eyes shut, not wanting Edward to keep finding reason's why she would make an excellent science experiment.

Haley simply nodded, her fists still clenched. It took her a long time to answer. "I will trust you." She breathed finally. "Let's go."

Edward leaned down, his lips brushing her forehead, even as he slid the syringe into her neck. "Goodnight, princess." He breathed. "I'll see you tomorrow."

Ben seemed to sag with relief and took Haley's hand, helping her down the ladder and into the sewer under the library moments before his brother's man burst into the room after them. The sheriff didn't really know what to say to Haley as the trudged through the sewer. The last thing he had wanted was to bring her to a place like this.

It was as the contents of the syringe flooded her body that Cleo's eyes suddenly opened, revealing the purple hue Edward had first commented on. Whatever she was, the young woman had no idea about it. Her gaze held Edward's for only a moment before the effects of the drug took hold and she passed out.

Haley was doing her best not to gag. It wasn't working. It didn't help when Ben's phone once again began to ring in his pocket. 

Edward was quick to get away from Cleo. Her eyes haunted him and he swore to himself he wanted nothing more to do with her. 
He ordered her put into a cell where she could see what had become of her friends. Perhaps seeing her from faraway couldn't be harmful...

Ben wanted to ignore it, in fact he simply wanted to toss it in the foul smelling water. "Missing me already?" He sneered as he answered the phone.

Cleo wasn't even aware of one of Edward's men picking her up as she was moved, or that him and the other soldier with him had made several crude comments about the things they would do to her when no one was looking. The young woman was simply like a limp ragdoll as she was deposited in her new cell with a view made just for her.

"Get out of the sewers, Benny." Edward said, clucking his tongue.  "That's no place for an angel." His brother made a tapping sound on his desk. 

Edward was keeping an eye on Cleo. He was closer than any of them knew. The two men would die for simply talking about her. He planned to see to that personally.

"What's wrong? Don't your goon's like to get their feet wet?" Ben snorted.

"What you think her story is?" The man who had been carrying Cleo asked. "The boss seems real interested in this one, not like that blonde he had us drag in here."

"You sound upset. Do you want me to come get you, little Benny?" Edward chuckled.  "Dad would yell at you if he knew what you were doing."

"Not that the blonde wasn't fun...until she started biting." The other man laughed. "Who cares what the stories are. She's going to be a pet zombie soon enough.

"Dad wouldn't give a shit and you know it." Ben growled, again getting the urge to toss his phone. "Dad was just as bad as Mom in covering up your dipshit deeds."

"You think?" The first man asked. "She was in that town with the blonde and that other guy... But she's not infected."

"Are you feeling slighted? Because no one loved you?'' Edward purred. "Why would they? You did nothing but say 'yes mother' . You never had any fun."

"Must be why the boss is keeping her. I have to admit I want to try a piece. Mr. Ed never shows interest in anything." The second man remarked.

"Somebody had to keep the family name out of the dirt." Ben hissed. "I swear... I wished I had been switched at birth and one day my real family would come and find me! Not a thing a six year old was supposed to wish for!"

"He's sure shown an interest in this one..." The man snorted, rough fingers pulling the edge of Cleo's black tank top away from the swell of her breasts. There was a disgusting smile on his lips when he saw she wore nothing underneath it and there was a small purple bar through the peak of one of her full breasts. "Never figured he liked this kinda whore."

"Give me a second." Edward didn't even bother to hang up as he marched toward the cell block. It wouldn't be hard for Ben to hear the sounds of zombies groaning. "Gentlemen, I thought I made it clear that you weren't to touch my things." Two gunshots sounded, followed by two bodies hitting the ground with a collective groan. "Now, are you going to do as I've asked and get yourself clear or am I going to be persuing your angel with more effort?"

Ben didn't need to ask what had just happened. He was watching Haley in the darkness, realising more than ever that he would rather she be dead than in the hands of his brother. "Find your own 'angel'." He hissed before tossing the phone into the murky water.

Haley frowned at Ben when she saw the phone sinking into the water. She didn't understand why he'd just destroyed their last means of communication. 

Edward looked down at his phone with a frown and shook his head. "Mother was afraid you had been born stupid." He muttered. Tucking his phone in his pocket he picked up Cleo and redressed her in his own shirt. It was not something he was overly happy with but there was little choice.

"Don't ask." Ben grumbled, taking Haley's hand and pulling her with him. The sheriff said little more until they were at a ladder leading back onto the street. "Haley... I need you to promise me something." He breathed, though he had his back to her.

Cleo sighed softly in her unconscious state, apparently appreciating the scent that clung to the shirt.

It made Haley me than a little nervous when he kept his back to her. Gingerly she Reached out to him but pulled up short when she reminded herself that he didn't see her that way. He probably never had. "Yes?" She finally managed to whisper.

Edward scowled at this. He wanted to wake her up and tell her not to do things like that. Instead he left her alone. Before he knew it, he'd carried her all the way to his room. Angry with himself, he dropped her on the bed and threw up his hands, cursing himself.