Tooth and Claw

Sinner

When night fell, Charlotte and the Cullens assigned on the mission, began to make their way into town towards Charlotte's house.
Not wanting to have their car seen by anyone, the group travelled there on foot.
Despite Charlotte's nerves, even she couldn't deny the enjoyment she felt at being able to run so fast and feel the wind fly through her hair.
"Let's just hope he's in" Emmett said quietly as they aproached the front door.
"He is. I can hear his mind from inside" revealed Edward.

Carlisle turned to face Charlotte who was at the back of the group.
"Are you ready for this?" He asked her.
Charlotte nodded her head.
"Good. Remember, try not to breathe in, as you don't need to breathe anymore, and smelling his blood will only make things much worse for you. And try to keep your distance, as you don't want to get too close to him either" Carlisle warned.
"Don't worry, I have no intention of getting any closer to him, than I need to" admitted Charlotte truthfully.
"Right then. Let's do this" replied Carlisle as he placed his hand on the handle, and pulled open the door.

As they all made their way inside, Charlotte frowned as she noticed the beer bottles that littered the floor.
Without her in his life, her father Barry had no one to clean up after him, and he had made no attempt to tidy up after himself.
The group walked silently through the house, not making a sound, until they found Barry asleep on the sofa.
Charlotte positioned herself across the room from him, while Emmett and Edward stood by her side. Alice, Jasper and Carlisle then took their places behind the sofa.

When everyone was ready, Jasper began to shake Barry awake.
It took a few moments to wake him, due to the amount of alcohol inside his body.
"Wha- Who's there?" He slurred.
"Hello dad" Charlotte replied coldly.
On cue, Edward flicked on the desk light beside him, illuminating Charlotte for her father to see.
Once he saw her, Barry jumped to his feet in fear.
"Yo- You" he stuttered.

Seeing the terrified look on her father's face, made Charlotte feel powerful.
For years she'd lived in fear of the man in front her. But now she saw him for what he was; a cowardly drunkered.
"Are you a ghost?" Asked Barry quietly.
Charlotte picked a discarded bottle up from the floor beside her, and threw it at the T.V.
"Could a ghost do that? I think not. It seems like with everything else in your life you failed. You failed to kill me" spat Charlotte.

"I'm sorry. I'm sorry" Barry whispered as he raised his hands in the air, as if surrendering.
"Sorry doesn't take away the things that you did" reminded Charlotte cooly.
"I know. And I didn't realise how much you meant to me, until you'd gone. Please come back to me. I need you" begged Barry.
"You need me, that I don't doubt, as you clearly can't look after yourself. But I wouldn't go back to you if you gave me all the money in the world"
"Wha- What do you want then? What do you want from me?"
"I want you to let me go. I need you to sign some papers, saying that I can do as I please. And then I want you to leave Falks, and never return".

"Leave Falks? But this is my home" said Barry.
"This was your home. Now you're going to sell it to the first buyer you get and transfer all the money to me" instructed Charlotte.
"But where will I live?" Barry questioned, as he began to regain his senses.
"I don't know, and I don't care. As long as it's far away from here, you can go where you like"
"You can't make me leave"
"Yes I can. Because if you don't leave, I will tell the police everything you did to me, and you can spend the rest of your life in a jail. It's up to you. I'm willing to be kind and let you go, but if you don't want to make things easy for us, then we will make things very hard for you".

"Us?" Questioned Barry.
"My new family. They saved me, and made me better than before. And now I'm going to live with them" revealed Charlotte.
The way the desk lamp was angled meant that Barry could only see Charlotte, as the others were all stood in the dark.
"What are you?" Barry demanded, as he began to look closer at Charlotte's strange appearence, and began to regain some of his courage back, as he realised that she was real and not a figment of his imagination.
"That is of no concern of yours, for you will never see me again" replied Charlotte.
"Oh yeah? You can't threaten me! Do you really think anyone would believe a word a little slut like you said?".

Charlotte's courage faltered for a moment, before she focused and collected herself once again.
"I think they would. And messed up people like you don't do well in jail, so I've heard" threatened Charlotte.
"Me, messed up? You're the one with all the problems. Not me. I was only doing what had to be done to correct your failings. Parents are allowed to punish their children, it is our right" Barry said loudly.
"I'm not the one with the problem. You're the alcoholic here. You're the insane one. Normal parents don't beat their children black and blue. Normal parents don't attack their children, throw them in a truck, drop them off in the middle of the street, and leave them to die!" Charlotte shouted back.

"Well, like I said. No one is going to believe a word that you say. You're just a stupid little girl. And even if they did, I'm not going to get in trouble for teaching my daughter the difference between right and wrong, and punishing her when she misbehaves" sneered Barry.
"You raped me! What is right about that!" Screamed Charlotte, who could no longer hold in the pain and anger that she was feeling.
She lunged forward towards Barry, wanting him to feel the pain that he had caused her.

Emmett and Edward reached her, and held her back, before she had the chance to rip her fathers throat out.
"Let go of me!" Yelled Charlotte angrily, as the boys held her firmly.
As the other Cullens revealed themselves, Barry fell back onto the sofa in fear.
Charlotte suddenly felt a surge of calmness enter her body and relax her. She couldn't think why she felt that way, until she remembered what Carlisle had said about Jasper's gift.
"Jasper, stay out of this" ordered Charlotte.
"No can do" replied Jasper, as he began to intensify the calming sensation he was infecting Charlotte with.

"Charlotte, why don't you go upstairs and pack up all the things you want to take with you. Jasper will go with you, while the rest of us deal with matters down here" said Carlisle calmly.
Unable to fight Jasper's power, Charlotte had no choice but to agree with Carlisle's wishes and head upstairs.
"I'm sorry, but I promised Carlisle I would intervine if things got out of hand" apologised Jasper once they were alone in Charlotte's room.
"It's fine. Let's just get this over with, so that we can get out of here" muttered Charlotte.

Once she had packed up all her belongings, Charlotte and Jasper carried all her things downstairs.
When they re-entered the living room they found that the main light had been turned on, so that everyone could see properly.
"Charlotte, if you have anything you would like to say to your father say it now. He has agreed to our demands, and will leave by the end of the week" revealed Carlisle.
Charlotte approached the group and turned to face her father, who had a swollen lip that she assumed was curtesy of Emmett.

"I just wanted to say that you were a terrible father. Mother was an amazing person, and how she ended up with an abusive creep like you, I'll never know. But you've betrayed her memory, so I hope that you're pleased with yourself" snapped Charlotte.
"You're right. You're mother was the best thing in my life. And I never meant to hurt her or her memory" admitted Barry quietly.
"You didn't. You never laid a finger on me until a few months after her death, as far as I remember. And I'm pretty sure you never hurt her, because she would've dumped your ass"
"She was going to leave me and take you with her. You were too young to remember what happened. I couldn't let her leave me, I had to do something. But I swear to you, that I loved her, and I never meant to kill her".

Charlotte felt as if her whole world had turned upside down.
She didn't even remember lunging at her father, but the next thing she knew, she was being bundled out of the house by Emmett and Edward.
"Get her out of here and back home" instructed Carlisle, over the sound of Charlotte shouting and screaming as she tried to escape the boys strong grips.
Edward and Emmett nodded and began to exit the house, holding a struggling Charlotte between them.
Leaving Alice, Carlisle and Jasper to deal with Charlotte's father, Barry Thomas.