[[ As I have said before, I do not own any of Stephenie Meyer's creations. I hope you enjoyed the story so far, and I would love it if you could take the time to review. I will try to have the next chapter will be up either later tonight, so 'alert' this story. Thank you! ]]
NO, Edward!
I throw myself in front of Edward using all my strength—even more than I thought I had before. Although I'm not able to break through entirely, I somehow make the veil take form of a barrier around his body, protecting him.
Edward whirls around just in time to see Victoria slam against my invisible wall, her cold hard claws almost denting it. She collapses to the ground, and both vampires' faces—and mine—are frozen in shock.
Half a second later, Victoria leaps back up on her feet. She faces Edward, several yards away. A corner of her lips is turned up menacingly, tauntingly. No words are exchanged; all the communication takes place between their hateful glares. Edward blocks Victoria's thoughts completely.
Finally, she speaks. "Hello... Edward, wasn't it?" Her voice is sweet and pleasant, fake.
He bears his teeth but says nothing.
"So nice to see you again. I see that your human girlfriend isn't with you." She lets out a short chuckle. She detects the pain that flickers in Edward's eyes, a perfect distraction. She straightens up a bit.
"Oh, I'm sorry," she continues mockingly. "She isn't here. At all." She sneers. Edward's fists tighten.
"You must have loved her so much to do whatever you could to save her. Or try to. Too bad she just kept running away from all of that, right?" That catches me off-guard. "Running away to James, knowing what was waiting for her. And now running to the afterlife, or whatever the humans have after they die. No, she didn't want to live forever. That's what you believe—that when we die, it's over for us." She pauses, cocking her head to the side. "Poor Edward. You can't be with her. Ever again."
Edward can't hold himself up. He crumples to the ground on his knees in that small meadow, the moonlight on his back, a terribly weak and vulnerable prey. He breaks into shuddering sobs, unable to stop himself. It's not worth it.
Edward, get up! You can't do this! I want to shake him, pull him back up on his feet; to remind him of his last promise to me.
Victoria smiles hugely now. She slowly circles Edward. "Don't worry, Edward. You won't have to suffer much longer; I'll make sure of that." She chuckles again.
She is behind Edward now, and she crouches down again. Edward doesn't even care anymore. He wants her to attack him. I hope deeply that my invisible wall would still protect him. I try to thicken it, standing behind it with Edward in my little circle. Every second is precious to me.
With an eager, crazed look in her eyes, Victoria pounces, and it's slow-motion from there.
Just like before, her hands are reaching out in front of her, an image of a graceful panther. Her wild hair flies behind her. I brace myself. And just when her hands are an inch away from Edward's shirt collar, another pair of strong hands grabs her by the waist and throws her into the trees.
Emmett goes after her—the ultimate rescue—a fierce growl escaping his throat. Alice appears after him, kneeling down next to Edward.
"Edward," she says softly. "How can you do this to yourself?"
* ~ * ~ *
A huge fire now burns in front of Emmett, consuming the broken pieces of a body. He watches the hungry flames lick the dark night sky, heavy smoke rising up to build thick pillars, dirtying the clear heavens.
"Hey," an alluring voice calls out to him quietly—a voice he did not hear for at least a week or two.
He turns around to see Rosalie walking towards him like an angel sent from heaven, the light from the fire flickering on her glowing face. He holds out his hand with a small smile; she takes it. Without any spoken words, they stare off into the fire in deep thought.
* ~ * ~ *
He heard someone moan, somewhere from the other side of the woods.
"Jasper, you should go with Alice," Carlisle orders.
Jasper nods and runs to where they saw Alice disappear. The voice screams a painful wail; it's a female's voice. Esme tugs on her husband's hand and they look for the woman.
They don't go far before Carlisle sees a shape in the distance. He can recognize the agonized pleas of the human. They go up to her, kneeling beside the body, which was writhing in immense pain.
"She's bitten," Carlisle says.
"Probably by Victoria." Esme holds the woman's hand, trying to soothe her.
In actuality, the girl did not seem to be more than twenty years old, maybe nineteen. But all I could concentrate on was her pain. In her mind, she wished for nothing more than death to end it all; they echoed Edward's thoughts perfectly.
"Esme, I will take her to Forks," Carlisle told her. He carried the girl in his arms easily. "Bring Edward home."