Dark Games & Twisted Minds by katinki

http://www.fanfiction.net/s/5467692/1/Dark_Games_Twisted_Minds
http://twilighted.net/viewstory.php?sid=8740


Official Description: A familiar foe has returned. A game of sorts, a game that has been played many times over, a game that taunts Edward's guilt-ridden sense of humanity. This time he must win, for good. It has to end now. Vamp/AU/OOC/M for Violence/Lang/Themes/Sex

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Legna says: I found Dark Games, Twisted Minds, by katinki, through a Twitter recommendation from EZRocksAngel, and I fell so in love with it that I harassed poor Kassiah on gmail about recommending it. Because she is too nice not to indulge me, I have yet another opportunity to recommend one of my favorites on The Fictionators.


In this Twilight AU, we learn early on that Edward lived apart from the Cullens for several years—much longer than Canonward’s four-year rebellious period. During his time away from his family, Edward met James, and the two got to know each other pretty well, although we don't know all the hows and whys just yet. Edward eventually returned to his family, and has been abstaining from human blood for 75 years. There seems to have been some kind of falling out between James and Edward beyond Edward resuming a vegetarian lifestyle, and James can't seem to let it go.

For the first time in more than twenty years, James felt the exhilaration of sport, the spirited thrill of the hunt. Humans were frail and pitiable. Edward Cullen was not. More importantly, Edward Cullen deserved to be tormented and tortured; he deserved to suffer under his wrath. This game was far more than simple sport; this was cold, calculated retribution. Edward Cullen still owed him in blood.

Every 20 years or so, James selects a human victim, then gives Edward a deadline by which Edward has to identify, find and try to save the victim. James knows Edward well, and he chooses the pawns for his games based on what "flavors" he knows will appeal to Edward. James is not above doing things to manipulate his selected victims' lives in order to involve them in his game, while they remain none the wiser. Katinki has given us flashbacks of a couple of victims, including one Edward attempted to save, but lost when things went horribly wrong and Edward was badly injured in the confrontation with James. Katinki’s description of what happened to Edward is just vague enough to leave us wondering exactly how Edward could have been hurt so badly, while being descriptive enough to be horrifying.


James' current pawn is, of course, Bella, and it is with immense luck that her blood appeals to Edward like no other. The scene in which James throws the gauntlet down to Edward by sending him a lock of Bella’s hair is spine-tingling; I could practically feel Edward’s struggle as he first took in Bella’s tantalizing scent.


Edward and his siblings are older; they don’t attend high school in this story. That works out well for Edward and Bella because Bella is older, too. She was a student at the University of Arizona before her mother was killed in an automobile accident under suspicious circumstances, and Bella moved to Forks to live with her father. There are a few other twists on canon—Alice, for example, can’t see as far into the future. This Alice tends to see things that are imminent, a twist that both has protected Edward’s secret and ups the ante on James’s game. Alice’s gift is a lot less likely to save the day.


Edward struggles with how to protect Bella from James when he's not even sure he can protect her from himself. Edward's family knows nothing of his feud with James, and Edward has steadfastly refused to involve them in it. Edward tries to acclimate himself to Bella’s scent by spending time with her, but he suffers a major setback in the most recently posted chapter, in a scene that made me gasp out loud.


This story is well-written, very smart, and fraught with tension, including some nice unresolved sexual tension now that Edward is starting to figure out that he feels more than just basic protectiveness for Bella. I’ve been recommending this story all over the place, tweeting about it incessantly, and I can’t thank the Fictionators enough for letting me recommend it here.

Kassiah says: ::rolls eyes:: whatever. I trust Legna's judgment and when she tells me to read something, I listen. She's never steered me wrong.

mozzer0906 says: I had seen the name of this fic being tweeted by EZRocksAngel, Legna and HMonster04 and so when I saw it on our calendar, I knew I had to check it out. I started reading it was so engrossed in the plot that two hours later when my son woke, I had absolutely know idea that I was reading for so long. I was completely transfixed on the world katinki had created for these characters.


I think katinki does a fantastic job of building intrigue and suspense while trying to discern the history between James and Edward. She builds tension as you shift from the past where they are locked in their brutal games of cat and mouse and then the present where you know Bella is the latest in James' long line of pawns.


I think Dark Games & Twisted Minds has some great twists on canon, completely believable in character, but adjusts for the maturity of Bella since this is set post high-school. It is a great delicious read when you are in the mood for a heaping load of suspense and mystery.