Asteraceae

FIFTY TWO

"Laurent! You bastard I said help me!" Victoria snatched harder, though the harder she pulled the harder Alice pulled, her main concern being to keep her head attached to her body long enough for someone to help her.

"Laurent, interesting take on the common name Lawrence." The branch beside them shook, the two women froze, "Do tell me is this the man you were begging for help from?" The head of Lawrence appeared, and the smell of Edwar-Bella's blood was made present as it ran down the corners of Laurent's mouth. "He was in the middle of a meal before I had the opportunity to meet him." Alice grinned, eyes softening as she gazed upon the figure of Joshua.

"Baby!" She tired moving forward, but the aggressive snatch on her hair had her remembering that there was in fact a woman trying to kill her.

"Oh delicious, meals after meals just keep appearing before me." Victoria grinned, though a fool would miss the slight aversion she had to the newcomer that had blood flowing through his body...undetectable blood. "Come to save your bitch?"

"Yes and no." Joshua frowned, "you see I've been looking all over for you leech, how dare you make me come find you." He dropped the severed head, he didn't really have to worry about it reattaching it since his body was long gone, and the leech would just have to suffer from being half alive with no body to attach itself too, maybe he would keep it as a souvenir to remember this moment. "I see your teachings didn't stick." Alice simply watched the interaction, if she moved her hair would be tugged on, but if she didn't there would be a chance that Victoria would gain her senses back and rip her head clean off her shoulders.

"I'm no pet! You didn't teach me a damn thing!" She backed up, but not too far because the branch they were on was slim. She wanted to be far from this man who only caused her trouble the first time she arrived in this area. The others hadn't believed her when she mentioned a human that made her feel as weak as a human, the teasing and humiliation of being overwhelmed by a mere mortal being something she had to hear almost daily.

"You are, at least for me you are, and so is she. All my pets usually play nice, but your being mean to my favorite one." He stepped closer, his body chest pressing Alice back into Victoria's as the woman fought with herself to either let go and escape or stand her ground against her mortal nightmare.

"Joshua!" Alice released, her nails digging into Joshua's satin black button up. She grinned despite being in a headlock, "you came to save me? Is Edward, okay?" She received a gentle caress to the head, but other than that, she was ignored in favor of Joshua playing with the red strands of Victoria's head.

"Your form of entertainment wasn't the slightest bit entertaining for me, I said to entertain my pet and you failed. You did nothing but cause trouble, I thought I told you to avoid that for me?" He twirled, staring into her eyes with soft smile as if he was simply chastising a child for eating a cookie they weren't supposed to. "You know I have to punish you right?"

"G-Go fuck yourself!" She decided then and now to finish the job, her hands snatching back on Alice's head creating cracks along her neck as the girl clung tight onto Joshua's shirt in pain.

"Now, now." He pulled back in his direction, his hand catching onto a generous amount of her long hair, "release my beloved whore." He pulled harder, his strength being far greater than what Alice was given by the cracks that lined Victoria's jawline. At the rate they both were pulling someone's head was bound to come off and there was one person who was more determined to finish the job than the other. "Behave bitch."

"Go to hell! You really do exist to cause me problems after problem! I don't know who you are or who you think you are, but I won't kneel for anyone!" Victoria pulled harder, but Joshua was a bit quicker with snatching her forward by not only her hair, but her neck. He had removed himself from Alice leaving her to clutch her own neck in pain as he held her the redhead against the bark of the tree with contempt.