.:EPOV:.
We hit Victoria's foul scent almost immediately after we talked on the phone. It was lucky, that's for damn sure. And certainly Victoria herself hadn't expected to be discovered this quickly. At least, I really hoped not, for then this would be a trap. But the trail was fairly new, and the unknown vampire who was in Bella's room was also here. A little ways further and Bella's scent was mixed with theirs. I didn't care if it was a trap or not. Bella was my only concern.
A ways further and I finally heart Victoria's hideous mind, her vile thoughts, her sadistic pleasure. Victoria had her hands locked around Bella's fragile wrists, and her foot was pressing readily against the middle of her back. My eyes shot wide with rage, my teeth snapped audibly, and my jaw tightened as I realized what Victoria was planning.
Bella's low, agonized whine set me off.
My legs pushed harder, sending me flying even quicker through the trees, leaving my family thoroughly behind me, as I snarled fiercely, loudly. I wanted Victoria to hear, to know I had found her, and to understand that she was the one who was going to die, not my Bella.
Shock burst through that red-headed demon's mind, followed closely by panic. She dropped Bella's arms impulsively, no longer focused on the torture she was set on inflicting.
Emmett and Jasper had caught up with me some, running a few yards from my side, using every strength they possessed to stay with me.
Carlisle and Esme were suddenly flanking me, as Alice and Rosalie followed behind Jasper and Emmett. Growls were rumbling deep in their chests as they each let a little bit more of their animalistic instincts take over in their hunt for Victoria.
Then, we could see her. The bright color of her fiery hair. The deadly blood-red of her irises. The sharp, ivory, almost claw-like fingers as they wrapped around the agonized human at her feet. I cringed as Victoria threw Bella's limp body over her shoulder. Victoria ran.
I snarled, irritated. Alice and Emmett imitated my frustration. Victoria was stopping at nothing to wreak her revenge. I wished I had never underestimated her before. James's mind had overpowered both hers and Laurent's, and because I failed to read them as I thorough as I should have, Laurent had very nearly killed Bella himself, while Victoria had managed this repulsive incident. Who knew she would ever out-rank her mate? I should have known. I should have seen something in her that made her a greater threat than we'd assumed. Why could I never do the right thing? Bella's life depended on me, and I constantly found myself in the wrong.
Bella's deliciously wonderful blood filled my nose, and I panicked. But it wasn't fresh. That was good. It would be easier for everybody, and no mistakes would arise, no one would get distracted - not that I had any trouble focusin on my priorities. Others I wasn't so sure of, including Victoria herself.
No fresh blood, however, meant Bella was bleeding internally. Depending on her state, that could prove fatal. Especially if we didn't get to her quickly.
As we raced through the air, gaining on Victoria, who weaved left and right trying to lose us, Carlisle cautioned us about Bella's physical state. When I got a closer look, I realized what he was talking about. Not only was she bruised and dirty, but one of her arms looked dismembered. Her ankle bones were obviously shattered, and the worst among it was her leg, twisted and shaped in the most unnatural, gruesome way.
The sight brought me an overwhelming feeling of raw fury. My eyes darkened into a deadly, ferocious gold, glinting with utter hate. I growled, first softly, in my chest, until it vibrated up my throat and broke piercingly through my venomous teeth, that were clenched together as I tried to control myself and keep steady focus.
My mind rushed to catch Victoria before she could get away. We needed something to stop her in her path.
Two cliff overhangs were just up ahead, parallel to each other. A rushing river sat at the bottom, between the two. Victoria was hoping to make it across with fast precision, for on the other side was her army of newborns.
I hissed at this appalling news. It all came together now. Everything was connected from the start. The ravagings in Seattle were due to Victoria. Emmett was right: she wasn't working alone after all.
Victoria's planning to trick us was futile with me here, and she knew this. But in these circumstances there was not much she could do to worry about that.
As our enemy began to round right, cleverly moving my family along with her, I read how she would decide at the last minute (a habit of hers, now, from so much time keeping Alice confused; I grimaced) to break left and bound across the bridge over the canyon.
"Jazz, Emmett, Rose. Jump over here," I ordered low enough where only my family could hear me, pointing to the cliff sides ahead. "Block her at the bridge ahead!"
They were already moving swiftly up trees, jumping from branches to branches until they went flying across the steep opening in the earth, landing on the other side and blocking Victoria's escape route just as Victoria flashed left onto the bridge. She slid to an immediate stop, hissing at the three who so inconsiderately blocked her path. She spun around, only to be face to face with me. Carlisle, Esme, and Alice formed a wall behind me, their arms out and ready.
My eyes roamed to Victoria's feet as her mind showed a part of her had to focus on keeping steady. On the bridge where we had trapped our enemy, the planks of wood were rotting, and the whole length of it swayed left to right, the carefully knotted ropes holding it together struggled to hold Victoria's and Bella's weight. Down below the water was black and roaring. Both sights made me uneasy.
Victoria was debating whether to make a jump for it, to hope she would make it over us without being caught, dropping Bella if she must. Victoria's mind was sharp, I admit. And evasion was her specialty. She had a keen sense for it. Even when things seemed hopeless, when they were supposed to be impossible circumstances to overcome, she could escape. It was her talent, I realized. However, talent or not, this time I would make sure she would not get away from us.
Victoria glared at me, her thoughts attempting to try and evade my hearing. It annoyed me that she was succeeding more than I would've like.
"It's too late!" she hissed suddenly, in her deadly feline voice. "She's dead."
My family and I broke out into wild, furious snarls. My growls held longest. Did she think we couldn't hear Bella's struggling heart? And evasive as she is or not, my ability isn't powerless. She can't fool us. Though, that never was her intention. She likes to play with us, with our emotions. She wanted to infuriate us.
Well, she succeeded.
I crouched, preparing to launch myself at her at a moments notice. The first chance I got I was taking, no exceptions.
Rosalie hopped infinitesimally closer to Victoria, who bared her teeth threateningly at my sister, her upper lip permanently lifted to show off her sharp teeth glistening with venom. Rosalie imitated the predatory expression.
Emmett growled a warning to Victoria, anxiously waiting for his chance to strike.
My attention focused in on Bella as I caught movement from her. Her head tilted slightly upward. Her face still wasn't visible, but I knew she wasn't unconscious. Had she been awake this whole time, suffering with the pain? An automatic growl rolled up my throat. I wanted Bella out of Victoria's arms. I needed her safe.
Carlisle and Alice stepped forward, arms outstretched to catch Victoria if she tried to run pass them. Jasper, on the other side, inched forward too, ready to pounce. His eyes were deep in strategy and anticipation. He wanted to end this threat against our family. I wished I could warn him, as well as the others, about the plethora of newborns just a mile into the forest behind Jasper, Emmett, and Rosalie.
A crackling sound interrupted our tense scene. My eyes narrowed worriedly with Carlisle's, as we both recognized that the noise came from Bella, not the bridge.
Her ribs... Carlisle was thinking, when, abruptly, something snapped.
Bella's pain-filled howl sounded. My eyes widened in absolute torment, realizing Carlisle was on the right track with his thoughts, and knowing what had happened. But then Bella started squirming to somehow find comfort in a pain that showed no mercy.
"Bella, no!" I snarled deafeningly, and I instantaneously, instinctively darted forward as Bella's hand smacked across the side of Victoria's head. Victoria, in return, let Bella easily roll off her shoulder.
I leapt for Bella, hoping to grab her before she fell out of reach. The river would have been too strong for her to swim through if she was in top physical condition. Now it was her certain death if she were to be swept away by it.
My fingers grazed across her arm, and were about to close over it, enabling me to pull Bella back to me, when Victoria's body rammed sharply into mine. A vicious hiss erupted out of both of us. Victoria's grip around my torso I couldn't care less about. I struggled to see over the bridge, to find Bella. I could have had her! I almost had her safe, away from harm! But then Victoria... She made sure I failed, she did it purposely.
Filled with a new wave of anger from that split second of struggle, my hands gripped Victoria's throat mercilessly as I tried to get free from her. A claw-shaped hand suddenly swiped across my face, causing an uproar of snarls around me.
Victoria's teeth snapped just inches from my throat; I moved just in time for her to miss, knowing her coming attack. Rosalie slammed into Victoria, ripping the red-head's arms off of me, and shoving her toward Carlisle and Alice. Alice wrapped her arms around the dangerous feline right when Carlisle missed.
I couldn't find the will to bother with Victoria as my family struggled to, until the bridge swung high to the left, giving me clear view of the river just as Esme's body disappeared into the water. She was after Bella, I realized. Her thoughts proved she had everything under control regarding Bella. That eased my mind, if only a little.
Alice was battling to restrain Victoria, but the effort was proving useless. She wasn't as strong as her opponent was. Victoria gripped Alice's arm and threw her into Carlisle. As both went tumbling into a tree, a path opened up. Thankfully, as Victoria started moving again, Jasper and Emmett had bounded back to the other side of the cliffs to block her, while Carlisle and Alice straightened themselves out. Victoria pretended to charge at them.
"Rose!" I grabbed her forearm and yanked her back.
Suddenly, Victoria pivoted back in our direction, startline the others. Her hand swung lethally where Rosalie just was. She didn't hesitate at the absence of an impact, and neither did Rosalie. As Victoria ran past us, my sister tackled her, jumping onto her back and wrapping her legs around her waist. Going for a group effort, I went for Victoria's legs, to hinder her method for running. Even if it only lasted a half a second, it was all the chance we needed.
But, before any other move could be made by anybody, the rickety bridge swung unpredictably one last time against the conflict happening on it, and then the weak, tiresome ropes that held it together tore in various places, ripping away from the solid earth in one abrupt moment.
Rosalie, Victoria, and I were suddenly freefalling toward the water.
I cursed when Victoria broke free from Rosalie's tight grasp, sending my sister flying into the rocky cliff side, and kicked free from me while I was distracted, sending me crashing into the opposite wall. Victoria leaped from boulder to boulder, higher, until she had reached the top of the rock wall once again. I watched her helplessly as she barely got past the retaliation of my brothers, who had once again jumped the canyon to try to block her escape. Alice jumped after them, as my brothers stayed hot on Victoria's trail.
I hit the water first, followed soon by Rosalie. When I resurfaced my eyes searched out Esme, then focused in on Carlisle. He was helping Esme up the precipice, and she was carrying Bella delicately in her arms, speaking fervently to him.
There was an inner battle I was facing now. Which direction to go? Bella or Victoria? Help heal the girl I so desperately loved? Or avenge her, and end the cause of all this?
"Go to Bella," Rosalie's irritated voice ordered from behind me. She was standing on a narrow bank on her side of the river. Strands of her golden hair clung to her furious face. "We can take care of the witch." She began to climb swiftly up the cliff, running off after Victoria, out for her own vengeance now.
But I wondered...could they really take care of her on their own?
Yes, they could if she was their only problem. But she wasn't, I quickly remember with a surge of fear. She wasn't their only problem, because they would run into more trouble than James's vicious mate. They were headed directly for the newborns!
Jasper would be an advantage there, but he was the only one. Dammit! They would lose!
I hurriedly climbed back to Carlisle, Esme, and Bella.
"Carlisle!"
"Nothing she can't recover from, Edward," he answered softly, knowing my question before I even asked it. And though that was one of my questions, surely, it was not the problem...but I was glad to hear it anyway.
I kneeled next to Bella. She was unconscious, but I could see the struggle she was having on the inside by the light furrow of her eyebrows. I ran my wet fingers carefully over her forehead, smoothing the crease there, and wiping a strand of brown hair from her face. I desperately wished I could erase all the pain she was feeling. It hurt to see her in such a state. So broken.
"Bella? Can you hear me, love?" There was no answer. She remained still and silent. "I'm sorry, Bella. I'm so sorry." I brushed her cheek with the back of my hand. "Everything will be fine, Bella. I promise." I squeezed my eyes shut and took a deep breath, hoping it would clear my mind, relax it for a quick moment. When I opened them again, I turned to Carlisle. "The newborns, Carlisle. They're Victoria's."
My parents both stared back at me curiously, startled by this unexpected confession. I rapidly explained what I heard in Victoria's head, and what Jasper, Emmett, Alice, and Rosalie were all headed for.
"Edward, you need to go help your brothers and sisters," Carlisle told me. He looked in the direction his other children had run off to, fearful once again that people he loved were in danger and needed help. Placing a hand on my shoulder, he turned back to me. "I'll be there right behind you."
I nodded and stood.
"Esme," Carlisle addressed apologetically, as he ripped up his jacket and continued bandaging Bella up the best he could so she'd live until she got back to our home, where her injuries could be treated before they became fatal. "I need you to listen carefully on how to take care of Bella."
My mother looked between Carlisle and I with wide eyes, but she nodded strongly. She knew she could not fight. And she had faith in us, as I had faith that she would care for Bella.
With one last glance at the sleeping girl who I owed everything to, I sprinted off after Victoria and my siblings. And, despite that I was determined to kill Victoria, there was no denying that I was scared. These newborns would not be easy. This battle was unexpected and unprepared for, and we were sure to be out-numbered and out-skilled.
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