Chapter Twelve - Wedding Bells

Norma started on Normans training right away. Telling him all the things she and Norma Jean had done. He was intrigued with his mother and vowed to be just like her when he grew up. This made Norma so happy that she started to neglect her other children. Not in the sense of starving them or anything like that but all her free time was spent with Norman. Clarice started thinking that her mother and her brother had a very unhealthy relationship. There were even nights that Clarice would find Norman sleeping in their mothers bed with her.

"He's twelve, Lecter, too old to be sleeping with mother!" 
"Too hard to kill too, when he's always in there!" 
"Yes, that too." 

Clarice knew about her mothers affair with Charles. She'd known about all her mother's affairs actually and had always kept the secret from her step-dads until her mother was ready to tell them. She knew if she could just get her mothers mind off of Norman and back onto her ultimate goal, Clarice would have a chance to hurt her brother.

"We need to call Charles, have him take mother's mind off of Norman." she told Bellatrix one day. Bellatrix had noticed the favoritism as well and wasn't happy about it."But I don't want another step-daddy, they just take mommy's attention away from all of us!" Bellatrix whined.
"Yes, but at least we'll all be getting ignored, not just the three of us girls. Look at Annie, she's been sitting in that dirty diaper all day!" 
"Okay call him," Bellatrix finally agreed.

The girls did and he agreed to come right over. Once there they told him that it was a surprise for for mommy and to wait in her room for her. They all headed up there and he laid down on the bed.

"Good, we'll get Mommy!" Bellatrix said as she started to head out of the room.
"Not yet!" Clarice  cried. "Wait, I bet she'll be up here in a moment." 

 Clarice had a plan that her sister didn't know about. She knew both Norman and Bellatrix liked their mother not having a husband but Clarice had seen first hand what happens when her mother doesn't have someone else to take her anger out on. With her already ignoring the girls for Norman, Clarice knew it was just a matter of time before Bellatrix and she got the wrath of her mother.

"Charles, will you be our daddy?" Clarice said crawling onto the bed next to him.
"What?!" he replied shocked.

Bellatrix caught on fast even though she didn't see the point of a new step-daddy she knew her sister had something planned.

"Please Charles!" she said crawling onto the bed next to her sister.
"Don't you girls think your mother should have a say in this?" he asked them.
"She wants to marry you, we've heard her talk about it to her friends." Clarice said.
"She has?" 
"Yes, she really loves you Charles, and we do too. Please be our daddy?" Bellatrix said giving Charles a hug to seal the deal.

They both knew anytime Charles came over and they batted an eye they got what they wanted. This was no different. He looked at both their pouting eyes and told them if their mother agreed he would too.

Just then their mother walked into the bedroom. "What is going on in here?" she said seeing her daughters on the bed with her boyfriend.
"Mommy, mommy, he agreed to be our daddy!" Bellatrix was the first one off the bed and ran to her mother.
"Please Mother, we need a father." Clarice, more composed stated as she too climbed off the bed.
"I hadn't thought you wanted to get married Charles." Norma said looking at her boyfriend.
"I didn't either till the girls convinced me," he said getting off the bed himself and walking over to her. "Norma, will you marry me?" 
"Yes," she replied.

She didn't see the evil look on the girl's faces. She was too busy looking at her new fiance lovingly.

Charles insisted on having an actual wedding. None of this just exchanging rings in the living room or kitchen shit. He wanted Norma to feel special for once in her life and he wanted his new step-children to see how well he would treat her.

Norma insisted if that was going to take place that she wanted to do it soon. She hated long engagements and wanted to start her married life right away. They sent out invitations around town to all her friends and his. On the day of the wedding though, not one person showed up. Charles started questioning his decision of marrying Norma.

"I can't.... I can't do this," he said as he looked at Norma and the kids and then ran away.

Shocked, Norma watched as Charles got to the edge of the lawn. 'How dare he! How dare he leave us at the alter! US!' Norma Jean screamed. Norma could feel herself heating up and her blood felt like it was boiling. 'Oh he's not going to make it to the street if we have anything to do with it. The bastard just sealed his fate.' she told Norma Jean as she started to walk towards Charles.

Just then he turned around "What am I doing?" he whispered to himself. "I love her, just because my friends don't agree, doesn't mean I can't be with her." 

He started to walk back towards the alter and saw Norma stop just a few steps away from it. 'She must have been coming after me,' he thought, his heart filling with more love.

"I'm sorry! I think I just got a case of cold feet," he told when he got back to the alter. "Please forgive me?"
"Always," she replied.

The rest of the wedding went off without any more problems.

Afterwards Charles let Norma in on a little secret. He was rich. Not just a little rich, filthy rich. He had $495,000 in his bank account and now that they were married, it was just as much hers as his. He told her how he could pay for the kids to go to private school now and collage.

Norma felt all warm inside when he told her this. 'Score!' Norma Jean screamed gleefully. Then she told Charles she had a little secret of her own. She knew Charles like younger women and he thought she was just that, younger. She had lied to him about her age the whole time they were together.

"That is wonderful," she said. "I have something to tell you too." 
"What is that beautiful," he said looking at her.
"I'm old enough to be your mother. Today is my birthday." 

Charles couldn't help himself, he puked a little inside as he saw the wrinkles form on his wife's face. How could she lie to him? He wasn't sure how, but he had figured she had just started having kids in her teens, not that she was old.

"Do you still love me?" she asked him, her face still almost the same as it was before.
"I do," he said, because he did. He would just have to get used to the fact that he married a much older woman.

They headed into the house then, arm in arm, both oblivious to what was happening still on the lawn. Norma had forgotten one teeny weeny thing that day.

It was Clarice's birthday as well. Clarice watch her mother and new step-father head into the house. Shortly after she headed in there too.

"Lecter, this family just forgot the wrong person," she said as she locked the front door behind her.

Chapter Eleven - A Bitter End

After the fire Norma had to think of a new way to get rid of Josef. She had been seeing Charles Winterly for some time now so knew he would be the perfect alibi for her to carry out her new plan. Living right on Lake Wannahawkaluggie, Norma had see first hand all threats and accidents the lake had to offer. What if one of those unfortunate accidents happened to be her husband? She knew he wasn't' a strong swimmer, and no one, not even the police could blame her for that.

She waited until it was one of the coldest days in January then prepared the beginning of her plan. She called Charles up and ask him to meet her at Mick's Karaoke for some alone time. She knew the place wouldn't be busy during the day but it would have enough people there to collaborate her story of not being home. After he agreed she wrote a note to her husband stating she had gone swimming in the lake and that she would be back in an hour. She made sure to note the time on the note so that when he awoke he'd see she'd been gone longer than that. She called the babysitter, let her know she was going swimming for awhile and then left. She headed down to the lake as not to bring suspicion to her plan. Once there she walked a short distance, out of the way of the house and called a cab.

"Oh you look so beautiful in your lingerie," Charles told her after they had sex in the photo booth.
"And you, your so handsome in your tennis shoes and boxers," she replied. Truthfully she thought he looked like an idiot, but she didn't say that out loud.

In the meantime, Josef had woke three hours after Norma had left. The babysitter was in a panic telling him that she had left to go swimming hours ago. Josef found the note on his dresser and noted the time that Norma had wrote it. He thought about calling the police then, but figured they'd just tell him he was overreacting.

"I'm going to go look for her," he told Jamie.
"Be careful, the waters are ice cold Mr. Bates," she said as she handed Annie a bottle.

Josef hated the lake, it scared him as he never really learned to swim. he could doggy paddle all right but other than that, he sucked at it. He looked out at the water looking for his wife but seeing nothing. Then he saw something bob up in down way out in the middle of the late.

"Crap, that must be her! She must be struggling out there." 

He stripped off his clothes as fast as he could and ran into the lake. Onlookers that were fishing looked over at the odd man jumping into the icy waters. Thinking he could get to her in time as she was still bobbing up and down to the surface, Josef doggy paddled out to the middle of the lake where he saw her.

Once there he didn't see Norma anymore. "Norma!" he called looking around.

His arms were starting to get tired and he was really cold. "Norma, where are you!?"

Behind him he heard something splash. 'That must be her!' he thought as he turned around and swam to where the ripples were. "Norma?"

It wasn't Norma. He'd swam straight into a shiver of sharks.

By this time he was already starting to lose strength in his arms and he started bobbing under water himself. He tried to swim away unnoticed from the sharks but that didn't work. He went under and took in some water. This caused him to start flailing around and coughing. The sharks noticed the disturbance in the water and came to investigate.

It was all over after that.

The onlookers had seen the commotion that was going on out in the lake and had called the police. By the time they got there though, it was too late. Josef had been eaten by the sharks.

Norma received the call a little while later. Her acting perfected over the years, she cried publicly for everyone to see. When she was questioned about the note, she told them that she had taken a morning swim and then had decided to head into town for some coffee. She had ran into Charles and they had decided to get some breakfast and catch up. Charles was able to verify her story along with others that had been at Mick's so Norma wasn't questioned after that.

The body of Josef was never found but Norma decided to have a funeral for him anyways. She had to put on the front of a grieving widow once more. Rumors started to seep around town calling her the Black Widow. Not that she had killed any of her husbands, just that it seemed anyone that married her ended up dead or disappeared. People talked about the family being cursed and how anyone that got involved with the Bates, bad luck would follow. This started to effect Clarice and her friends at school. Some of the girls picked on her saying she was the daughter of a witch. Others said that Clarice herself had killed all her step-dads. Kids could be cruel and Norma saw that the ones in Hidden Springs were not different.

'Let's just blow up the whole town! Wipe the fucking place clean off the map!' Norma Jean seethed. 'They will get what is coming to them, don't worry Norma Jean. I think Clarice can take care of her self.'

And she could. Little things started happening to the girls at school. One broke out in a horrible rash that covered her whole face, making it swell. Another fell of the monkey bars and broke her wrist. While another one missed two weeks of school because she kept puking up blood. Yes, Clarice had the school kids handled and Norma knew this.

Before Norma could blink her eyes and get Charles to commit to her with marriage, the twin's birthday rolled around. Norma was actually glad that she hadn't married Charles yet as she wanted to spend this birthday with just her kids. She had great plans for all her children, but Norman was special. Norman would be the one she taught all her deepest darkest secrets too.

"Norman, I will make you the evilest little boy in the world. You are so special, no one will compare to you," Norma smiled as she help Norman blow out his candles. 

He grew into a fine looking boy, and Norma couldn't be prouder. "You will make all the girls pay, won't you Norman?" 
"Yes mother," Norman said, his face expressionless.

Norma was so busy being proud of her son and making plans for him that she didn't realize that Clarice had heard the whole thing.

"I am going to kill you," she whispered as she looked over at her brother. "How dare you take mother's love from me."

Norma busy with Bellatrix now didn't see Clarice's jealousy. She was just happy that all her children were growing up just as evil as her.

 Bellatrix seemed to enjoy her evilness, even more than Clarice. Maybe Norma was wrong on who would be taking over the family home when she passed. Or maybe, she would just have all her children share in the joy of it.

Chapter Ten - Flame Resistant

"Should we slit his throat or bash him in the head?"
"Ma!"
"Oh yes, we could tie him to the bed and take a sledge hammer to his legs. That would be fun Annie, good idea."

Norma wasn't happy with Josef, not only did he bring no money in what so ever, his sorry ass had a birthday the day they got married! Not that he was too old yet, but he sure was older than she liked.

"Who would want a wrinkly old disgusting man when they didn't have to?" she had told Annie as she got her breakfast."It's not like I will be young forever, but when I get wrinkles is only when they can have wrinkles." 








Josef was good for a few things he taught Bellatrix to walk and Annie to talk but he still ignored Clarice like she wasn't there.

Clarice didn't mind though, in fact it gave her more ammunition to use against him when she would say something to mommy. Lecter had grown to be quite special to Clarice and they started to plot Josef's demise. Clarice could see that her mother wasn't happy, that she had just married Josef because of Annie and his money. One night she heard them arguing about how he was a mooch, a lowlife and a piece of shit, not bringing any money into the house and just taking for a woman with four kids.

"We need to get rid of him Lecter," she had told her best friend.
"I shall grab a knife?" 
"No, not yet, a knife would be too easy, we need to think of something creative," she told him rubbing her hands together. "Something that would make mother proud."

Christmas came and Norma got Clarice the chemistry set she had asked for. Norma knew what her daughter was up to and she couldn't be prouder. She loved that her daughter was just as evil as her and wanted to start in the "family business" so early.

"The website said if we add Digoxin and Ethylene glycol it will slow his heart and shut down his organs. It would look natural, right?"
"I want to hear him scream!" 
"I am sure he will do that too." 

Clarice spent all her free time working on the poison. She tried different mixtures but usually blew it up before anything significant came out of it. It was a cold winter day when she finally got it right.

"We did it!" she exclaimed excitedly.
"Let's give it to him now!" 
"Not yet, now we have to wait for the right time."

As Clarice put her chemistry set away, Lecter rubbed his hands together. "This is going to be fun. I hope it burns his insides and blisters form through the skin." he told her.
"Oh Lecter, you have the most brilliant ideas." 

Norma had been devising her own plan on how to get rid of Josef and make it look like an accident. She waited until Clarice was at school and the babies were all napping before she "accidentally" started a fire.

"Help! Oh Josef, help me!" she screamed.
"Hold on Babe!" Josef said as he got up from the couch and ran over.

She had planned on bashing him in the head with the fire extinguisher and then letting the flames consume him before calling the fire department. It was the perfect plan to make his death look like an accident. Just as he neared her and she was about to hit him the maid came running into the house with the other fire extinguisher.

"I heard the screams and called the fire department already, they are on their way!" he said as he started to spray the flames. "Josef move or you'll set on fire!" 

'Fucking bastard!' Norma Jean screamed. 'How is it suppose to look like an accident now!' 'I don't know, I don't think we can do it now.' Norma replied, pissed off at the maid and wanting the flames to consume both of them.

The maid was able to get the last of the flames out before the fire department even arrived. Josef walked away unscathed and Norma just glared.

'He'll pay for that.' she told Norma Jean as she looked at the maid with a deadly stare. 'Mark my words Norma Jean, he will suffer.'