The Safe Haven

Chapter Six - Revenge is a Dish Best Served Bloody

Bella couldn't remember her feet moving back to the car outside of her house, but she found herself standing there, leaning over as nausea overtook her. If she has been feeling rage before, now she could feel it flowing through her body like hellfire.

Klaus was with her, the rest of the family remaining in the house to investigate further. Bella didn't want an investigation, she wanted revenge. Stone cold revenge that ended with Edward's head removed from his shoulders. Bella looked up when she heard a car screech to a stop behind her. turning, she fully expected it to be Edward returning to the house, but instead, it was Rosalie's red BMW. She knew they would have smelt the blood from a mile away, so didn't bother with an explanation before turning on her heel and walking back into the house. she needed to see for herself.

"Bella, love. Don't go back in..." Klaus pleaded with her. She hadn't seen the man's body, she didn't need to be traumatised by that alongside the knowledge that her father had been murdered in cold blood.

"Klaus, I'm okay, I promise. I need to see for myself. If you want to help, tell Emmett and Rosalie what we know." Klaus only nodded once before turning to speak with the cold ones beside him. Before now, Klaus had little contact with Rosalie and Emmett. He had popped up on a facetime call here or there and thanked them profusely for their assistance in returning Bella to him, offering a favour in return if they should ever need it. He hated that this is how they would meet, whilst somebody that they all cared about was in such pain. Klaus could see that the grief had not hit Bella yet, any feeling of it had been pushed down by familiar anger. He watched her walk up the stairs to the house, stopping to say something to Freya and Kol on the front porch as she passed them.

"Elijah?" Bella called as she walked through the open door. Hayley remained in the kitchen, but Rebekah and Elijah moved through the hallway to greet her. Bella could see that the blood had been cleaned from the hardwood floor, but the metallic smell lingered in the air. even as a human, she could smell it, she couldn't imagine how overpowering the smell must be for the vampires and hybrids in the house's immediate vicinity.

"Bella, I thought you were staying outside with Klaus," Rebekah said as she walked in behind Elijah, her eyes scanning over Bella as she did.

"Rosalie and Emmett are here, he is talking to them outside, I need to see, Bekah." Bella's eyes moved past the siblings into the kitchen. Her eyes scanned the small room, there was still blood on the wall, two of the chairs were laying broken against the wall, and the phone was hanging off the hook.

"Bella, I'm not sure that..." Rebekah tried to reason with the human, not wanting to emotionally scar her more than she had been already.

"I will be okay. I have to see him for myself."

Elijah searched Bella's face before answering. He understood the need to see her father, she had to know that what she was experiencing was indeed real.

"Okay, Isabella. We moved him upstairs. Do you want one..." Bella cut Elijah off before he could finish his sentence.

"No, I think I have to be on my own. I will call if I need somebody."

Bella took the stairs slowly, leaving both siblings at the bottom. she half wished she would turn around and ask them to accompany her, but didn't. she had to do this alone. She walked across the landing one slow step at a time and pushed open Charlie's door.

She choked back a sob as she saw him, lying there, still dressed in the police uniform he had put on only moments before he was killed. One side of his shirt was soaked entirely red. Bella felt cold mix with the fire that was coursing through her veins. Charlie's cause of death was obvious, the large bandage that was now covering the entire left side of his neck confirmed that for her. She took a deep breath and stepped forward, leaning down and touching the side of her father's blood-splattered face.