"You've hurt a lot of people."
"I know."
"You've hurt my family."
"I know."
"And all of it has been to hurt me."
"Correct."
Saving Grace
Chapter Seven:
Tell me you won't give up 'cause I'll be waiting.
The time had finally come.
Edward looked into James' deep red eyes, proof of the bloodshed he'd inflicted upon the populace.
Yes, this was his one and only chance to avenge those murders. And he was going to make the most of it. "You're going to pay for what you've done," he declared, taking a step forward.
"So, Emmett, do you want to take the first hit?" Jasper turned to his brother. He saw the hunger, the craving for a good fight, in those dark ocher eyes. "I'll take that as a yes," he said.
That was all the prompting Emmett needed.
Victoria couldn't keep up with his movements. She couldn't see them, but she felt them alright. She felt the kick that knocked her off her feet. She felt the punch straight to her gut. She felt the unbelievably strong fingers constricting around her throat, tearing at her hair and overall doing a first-rate job of making her scream out in pain for longer than she could stand.
After a while, though, Jasper had to step in, thinking it was about time to wrap this up.
Victoria was already defenseless on the ground, nearing the brink of passing out, as Jasper told Emmett, "You've had enough time to play. Now, let's finish this."
She was too weak to fight back at this point as the two vampires lunged and hacked at her appendages. Even so, her screams were loud, piercing.
Bella covered her ears. All this time, she had been kneeling beside Alice (the shock of tonight was bound to bring her to her knees sooner or later), who had her arms around the girl, like a shield between her and the conflict. Bella now buried her whole face in Alice's shirt, hoping to drain out the tortured voice screeching for mercy.
And then there was the shrill sound of Victoria's flesh tearing apart, adding to the cacophony of her agonized screams.
Alice wished Bella didn't have to be here for this. Even though her eyes were averted and shut tight, she was still sharply aware of what was going on.
Carlisle and Rosalie simply stood back and watched, letting the boys have their fun. It was only near the end, when Victoria was nothing but a pile of limbs and organs, that they were needed.
Carlisle took a match out of his pocket and lit the heap—which Rosalie had drenched with oil—on fire. The body parts burnt quickly. To reduce damage to the house, Rosalie soon pulled out a blanket she had retrieved from the bedroom, ready to extinguish the flames.
Bella stopped her.
"Don't," she said, her voice small and broken.
Rosalie looked at her questioningly.
"Let it burn."
She obeyed, tossing the blanket onto the mound—not in a way that would smother the blaze but in a way that would encourage it to spread.
Bella gave her a strained smile. "Thank you."
There was a bit of an awkward silence that followed, though it was broken once Carlisle began making his way down the stairs.
"Where are you going, Carlisle?" asked Alice.
He turned to them, addressing the entire group. "I'm going to check up on Edward."
He said he'd make him pay.
He said he'd make him suffer.
And Edward always sees his promises through to the end.
Tonight was no exception.
Edward now looked down at James in contempt, no shred of mercy in his cold, hard gaze. He had made him suffer. He had made him wish for death. Yet, he was still not satisfied. He wished he could make him bring back every human life he took away. He wished he could see him make the trip to hell—and then accompany him to heaven to apologize to those innocent souls he destroyed.
But he knew that wasn't going to happen.
He would have to settle for this.
The blows he had delivered up until that point were nothing if not full of the hatred and revulsion he had been waiting to unleash for so long. But he was nowhere near finished.
Fate had other plans for him in mind, however.
"Edward."
He turned at the sound of his name, seeing Carlisle enter the yard and making his way towards them. "Let Jasper and Emmett handle the rest," he said. "Bella needs you."
That reminded Edward of his real purpose here.
He didn't come here for murder. He came here to save Bella and bring her back with him.
Somewhere along the track, he had lost perspective.
There are some things much more important than revenge.
He couldn't change the past; couldn't bring back the dead. He could, however, mold the future in a way that would never resemble anything like the past, and move on.
That's exactly what he was going to do.
He turned to check over his shoulder and found that Jasper and Emmett were already approaching, ready to take over the reins. Before they arrived, however, Edward wanted one more shot at his opponent.
He reached down and gripped James by the neck, pulling him up to eyelevel, then landed a heavy punch to his face.
"Hey, hey," Emmett reproached, having come up behind Edward. "Save some for us."
Edward grinned sardonically, before turning around and shoving James' body into Emmett's eager hold. "He's all yours."
"Excellent," he heard Emmett reply.
There was much pain and carnage to follow. But Edward had already reentered the house at that point, and didn't care to follow the events outside.
Bella leant against Alice, their arms wrapped around each other for comfort, as she watched the fire burn before her eyes.
Victoria's remains were quickly turning to ash. The flames flickered at the sides of the heap and began creeping across the floorboards, coming ever closer to where they sat.
"We should leave," Rosalie said in a hard voice, "before we burn down with the house."
Bella nodded, but found herself unable to move. "Just wait… one more minute." She wasn't sure why she was still scared.
James and Victoria were out of the picture, the Cullens were there to protect her and, most importantly, she was safe.
So why was she still shaking and clinging to Alice for dear life? What was there to fear?
She didn't know. And maybe that was what scared her the most.
"Bella."
Her body gave a violent jolt when she felt an icy hand on her shoulder.
Edward withdrew his arm and bent down to meet her eye. "I'm sorry; I shouldn't have surprised you like that. Are you hurt?"
Physically, she wasn't in such bad shape. Emotionally, however… Well, that was another story. "I'm okay," she finally answered.
Edward smiled at that, before standing up straight again. For a brief moment, she thought he was about to leave, especially now that he had fulfilled his mission in protecting her from James. It was a foolish thought, she realized, as he held out his hand for her to take.
A feeling of déjà vu passed through her, before she worked out why this felt so familiar.
It was just like that first night—a mere twenty-four hours ago. Yet, so much had changed.
She decided to keep this part the same, though, as she placed her hand in his and said, "I trust you."
Edward recognized the resemblance to last night, too, so he played along and answered, "That's good to know."
They were both happy enough to be able to reenact their first meeting, knowing it had been the encounter that saved them both. Edward continued the show by lifting Bella to her feet, his hand still gripping hers tightly, and asked, "Can you stand?"
This time, she knew she wouldn't be able to do it.
Still—stubborn to the end—she tried.
The moment Edward's hand reluctantly let hers go, her legs buckled, and she fell—right into Edward's waiting arms.
He sighed. "You knew that was going to happen," he said, playfully adding a hint of accusation in his tone, "just like last time."
She smirked. "Following that logic, I also knew you were going to catch me."
"Well played." He grinned. "Ready to go?"
He carried her back home in his arms. But, unlike last time, she fell asleep of her own accord. It was because she wasn't worrying about not being able to make sure he was there; she trusted him to stay with her—forever.
"That's right; sleep, Bella," he whispered, noting how intensely her features relaxed after lapsing into slumber. "Rest now; I will explain everything when you awaken."
A/N: Yeah, I know, short chapter, right? But I just wanted to get the fight out of the way before getting to work on the next chapter, which will primarily be James and Edward's back-story and some other explanations, too. Hmm, I think I've figured out the ending for this story so that it will end up having a total of ten chapters. But, with my fickle nature, you never really know.
