Dan thought the two weren't going to move. Stupid him.
Sweat dropped from his face. He was breathing hard and was already getting tired.
"I'm not the villain here," he said oh so quietly. "I'm not."
"This is justice!" Dan said and he pushed the piece of bark towards Renee

Xander could easily see that the man was getting tired. he was close enough to hear what he was saying. "No, it's not. It as an accident. Perfectly normal." He didn't move or flinch away as the piece of bark moved towards him, seeing as he was in between him and Renee, just in front of Victoria.

Victoria made no move to leave, staying perfectly still, eyes still on the bark.

Dan just stared at them. It was true.
Suddenly, there was a battle of good and bad inside him.
What happened was an accident. The girl didn't mean it.
But she killed Pete.
It's still an accident Accidents happen.
She killed Pete! I should kill her!
No, you shouldn't. Pete wouldn't want you to.
Dan gulped and dropped the piece of bark. He quickly ran away without a single word.

Xandre and Victoria were a little confused. Xander had figured he would chicken out when it was time to kill Renee.. but that was a bit early. Either way, they were both relieved. Victoria turned to Renee, worriedly. "Sweetie, are you okay?"

Renee didn't reply. A sharp piece of wood had pierced through her back when she hit the tree..
"Yep, I am," Renee said dreamily after a few minutes. "Well, I hope so."

Victoria looked worried already. Xander gently sat her down, looking at the piece of wood. "This is gonna hurt.." he said softly, pulling the piece of wood out in a quick, not splintering motion.

Renee felt no pain. It was kinda soft, not unlike the pain Xander said.
"I'm feeling sleepy," Renee murmured, her eyes closing. "Do vampires get sleepy?"

Victoria frowned. "I'm not entirely sure.." Xander simply nodded, picked her up. "Yeah. They do. Let's get you home now.."

"You suuree?" Renee said. She yawned and her eyes closed.

Dan, meanwhile, was beating himself up. Why couldn't he do it? Damn conscience. It always stopped him.
He had a chance to kill the girl. And he didn't do it. He couldn't. He wasn't a murderer like her.
But revenge was consuming his head. If he couldn't kill her, he could at least make her feel the pain he felt because of her.
He could try killing her parents...
No, he couldn't. They were just unlucky to adopt her.
And he couldn't kill them anyway. His damn conscience would bother him again.
"How...how...."

Victoria looked at her brother worriedly now. Xander nodded. "Yes, I'm sure." he said softly, and started walking back to their apartment carrying Renee. He would have to wake her parents up before leaving her alone in the house. But before that, her wound needed to heal.

Renee nodded contentedly.

Meanwhile, Dan was helping his son solve a jigsaw puzzle. He could easily solve it in a few minutes but his son wouldn't let him. So no.
But Dan wasn't completely concentrated on the jigsaw. He was also thinking of his revenge.

Xander and Victoria took Renee to their apartment, and Xander laid her on the guest bedroom's bed, where she had slept the previous night. Victoria stayed in the room to keep watch over hre, and Xander went to check up on her still sleeping parents.

Renee opened her eyes suddenly. She was in a room...with a bed...and someone staring at her...
"Victoria! What happened? What happened to Dan? Did he hurt either of you? Did you hurt him?"
She scolded herself for forgetting what happened.

Victoria chuckled a little. "No, actually. It seemed he hurt you. But he chickened out and ran away before killing someone or hurting any of us again." she said with a small smile. "You feeling okay?" Xander checked on her parents, asleep as to be expected, looking rather peaceful. Walking out of the room they were in and into the living room, he sat on the couch and relaxed.

"Oh. Okay. I guess that's ... good," Renee muttered. She was supposed to feel glad but she didn't. She deserved what Dan was supposed to do to her.
"I'm feeling okay," she said. "Physically," she said so lowly that no one could hear it.

Victoria, looked at Renee carefully, as if she could tell what she was thinking. "Accidents happen. I've done the same more than once.." she said, letting out a soft sigh. "Dan doesn't seem to understand what... the thirst is like. Of course, that's no surprise." she said, laughing a little, grimly.

Renee looked at Vanessa, interested.
"Tell me about the time you... did it too," she said. "Please?"

Victoria frowned a bit. "Well.. I've done it a few times. Two times were when I was a new vampire.. I don't remember much. Xander stopped me before I killed any more. The other time.." she took a deep breath. "The other time was, well, maybe a year after I turned into a vampire. It was still hard for me to control myself, but i felt the need to visit one of my old human friends, and I did. It was going well, we were talking normally.. She, of course, had been wondering where I'd gone off to for a year. She opened an envelope that I had given her, which contained her birthday card. she slit her finger on the envelope, and blood seeped out.. I.. I just lost it. I couldn't control myself... I sucked her dry." She looked downwards, eyes watering a bit.

Renee stared at Victoria, unable to speak.
After a few minutes, she found her voice.
"It's ... okay, Victoria," she said. "I know you didn't mean it. It was an accident."
She paused.
"I'm sure your friend would understand."

Victoria smiled a little. "Thanks.. I hope she would." She took another deep breath, wiped her eyes, then blinked a few times. She then smiled at Renee.