Disclaimer: All publicly recognizable characters, settings, etc of the "Twilight: Saga" are the property of Stephanie Meyer. The original characters and plot are the property of said author. No copyright infringement is intended.

Chapter Two Bella POV

Jacob was in front of me before I could even register he moved, crouched, readying himself to phase and attack whatever had to be coming, pushing me simultaneously behind him protectively. The trees in front of us shook, and a growl escaped from the wolf within him.

This was it. Victoria found me, found us, and I knew in that moment that Jake was going to die trying to protect me. The tree's shook again, but this time it was Seth, in human form, naked and bloodied, running towards us – more like limping quickly – at a human speed, screaming for us to run.

"Run Bella, you need to run!" He tried yelling out, the sound of blood gurgling in his throat mixing with each word. "She's here, there are more of them com…." Before he could finish his sentence, before he could reach the spot where Jake and I stood dumbstruck and frozen, a red streak of lightening was at Seth's side, holding him at least two feet off the ground by his neck, strangling the life out of him.

Yet again, before my human eyes could comprehend what was happening, a russet wolf was charging towards Victoria, and Edward was standing in front of me, pushing me into his back.

"We need to move, immediately." He hissed out, no trace of the melodic tone in his beautiful voice. I tried to focus on the small battle playing out before my eyes – Seth lying on the ground, eyes closed and he not moving, blurs of white marble and fire red mixed viciously with russet fur and angry snarls and snaps.

"We're not going anywhere!" I yelled out to him, "I have to go help Seth, and you need to help Jacob. We are not leaving them Edward!" He still had his back to me, but I could feel his body tense, he didn't want me here anymore then I wanted to stay.

Completely defying my wishes, Edward swung me over his shoulder, and ran with me through the woods. I hit at his back, feeling as though the bones in my hands were breaking with each punch against the hard granite - he didn't falter in his step once. I yelled at him to put me down, that we needed to go back and help them, but he ignored me and continued to run deeper into the woods.

We came to an abrupt halt after less then a minute; he put me gently to the ground, and tried to hide me between some sort of shrub and a split tree trunk. "Just please stay here Bella, I am going to go back and get Seth. Please," he pleaded with me, "please just stay here and stay hidden." I shook my head in agreement, and he was gone. I brought my knees tight to my chest, a ball of flesh and clothing trying to merge amongst the bright green foliage.

Edward was back with Seth's still unconscious body before I could let my self-destructive mind pull to the worst of what could be happening. "He is already healing, he'll be awake soon. Just stay here with him…I love you, please don't do anything to put yourself in harms way Bella." Edward pleaded with me before he was once again nowhere in sight, before I could tell him I loved him too, before I could tell him to stay safe, and keep Jacob safe as well.

I pulled at the long sleeve of my white cotton shirt until it ripped off at the top seam. Even though Seth's wounds were already closing, I wanted to clean the blood from around his mouth and face. I sucked in a breath, willing the sickening smell of copper not to invade my senses, and tried not to get sick.

Though Edward only ran with me for a moment, I was deep enough in the woods, far enough from the tiny battle between the men I loved, and the demon that wanted me dead, that I could not hear what was happening. I had no idea what was going on past the trees. Despite the fact that I was once again being selfish, it was in fact better that Seth was in human form to heal quicker, I wished that he would wake up so he could phase and look into Jacob's mind to make sure that he and Edward both were not hurt.

All I wanted to do was run back to the clearing. To see for myself that Edward and Jacob were alive – to see that they were able to, once and for all, rid the world of Victoria – fantasizing that I may actually get to see the two of them happy and smiling that they were able to work together to take out such a threat.

Instead, I grunted as I pulled Seth's heavy body close to mine, cradling his still form to my chest, and ran my fingers soothingly through his cropped black hair, pretending that the wet in his hair wasn't blood. Making sure that he and I stayed hidden and safe were the only things I could focus on, because thoughts that might lead me to thinking Edward and Jacob could be hurt, or worse, were not allowed to plague my mind.

What seemed like hours later, though it was probably less then just one, the trees in the near distance began to rustle. I instinctively pulled Seth closer to me, edging in front of his sleeping body as if I would actually be able to shield him from the threat that was approaching.

"Bella?"

"Jake! I'm here!" A moment later, he was at my side, wrapping me in his amazing warmth. "Oh, Jake, I'm so happy you're all right." I sobbed into his chest, and then pulled back quickly to look over him. "You are okay right? You're not hurt are you?" He was wearing only a pair of torn shorts, and though his body was covered in already healing scratches, and he was filthy with dirt and dried blood, he looked perfectly…perfect – I pushed my body into him, I was so happy he was safe.

"I'm fine Bella. Victoria is dead. She won't try to hurt you anymore." His voice should have been filled with exhilaration – elated by information such as this, I knew my mind was - but he sounded almost…remorseful. I pulled back from his embrace again, and looked at him with the confused expression I'm sure was plastered on my face, asking him with my eyes to explain his somber tone. "Bells, I'm…Oh god Bella, I am so sorry." He was shaking his head, refusing to make eye contact with me.

Immediately I knew what he was sorry for. Immediately I knew what I should have figured out the moment I saw only Jacob at my side. Immediately I knew. I said his name in barely a whisper, "Edward."

"More came Bella. It wasn't just Victoria. More of her vampire army came just for you, for all of us. There were five of them in addition to her. It was just Edward and me fighting all of them. The rest of the newborns were down in the clearing with the Pack and Cullen's. Our team won that battle - Leah got pretty hurt though, and the Dr's taking her to their house to look after her." He spoke quickly, still no animation in his voice.

"Edward." I whispered out again. I needed him to say the words. I needed Jacob to tell me what I already knew.

"He was amazing Bella. He got Victoria off me, literally, before she almost bit me. I would be dead if he hadn't gotten there in time. He practically ripped her in half." He stopped and took in a deep breath, sighing before he continued. "That's when…that's when the other vampires showed up. It was five against two. He read my thoughts, and we organized a plan of attack quickly, he followed my directions like I was his Alpha, never hesitated." For a moment Jacob looked proud, looked almost like he was talking about one of his Pack brothers. Then just as quickly, his expression turned to that of shame, guilt.

"Please tell me Jake. I need to hear it from you."

"We were able to take out three of them within an instant. We worked together perfectly, and then there were just two vampires that we needed to kill. I told him…I told Edward to take the one to the right of him, that I would go for the one on the left…I should have taken down the other one. I had no idea that he couldn't…" He trailed off again, burying his face in his hands. I took his hands down from his face and into mine, forcing him to look into my eyes, both sets of eyes filled with tears spilling over.

"The vampire that he was fighting with…she was like you in a way. Edward couldn't hear her thoughts. He was using that as his greatest weapon, to be able to tell which way his opponent was going to go so he could strike first. But he yelled out to me that he couldn't hear her. I killed my vamp easily and I ran over to him, I was almost there, I was in the air ready to rip her off of him…if only I got there a second earlier…" He shook his head once more, pausing, dragging out the inevitable news still.

"I was too late. The leach was about to rip off his hea… She knocked me back before I could get to him; I flew through the air, hit into a tree. I was only out for like a minute, but by the time I got back up… there was nothing but ash at her feet, and I didn't see him anywhere. I took her out quickly, but..." He brought his hands up to cradle my face, looking deeply into my eyes, "She killed him Bella. I'm so, so sorry… Edward is gone."

To be continued...