Chapter 9

Laurent had made good on his promise and had gone straight up North in search of the 'vegetarian' lifestyle. To ensure that he would not be a problem, I called ahead to the Denali coven to be on the look out for him; on top of that I placed a tracker on him. Just to be sure he doesn't come back too soon. If I got the chance to get close to Victoria, I could put one on her. Though she has the unfortunate ability to evade everything. I could put one on James but he had chased Edward already and I doubted he would be on his way back any time. I had Rosalie help me lay sensor traps in certain areas so we could monitor where Victoria was in the forest because she had not run away completely just yet, I had a hunch that she was waiting on a signal from James so until that arrived, whilst she was waiting on that I assumed she was trying to gauge our territory. Find an advantage over us, that kind of thing. Esme had said that she would focus on keeping a tight perimeter on Charlie's property.

To Charlie and everyone else at work who asked, I had taken a couple of weeks off work. I had a few stories in mind to keep them entertained so they didn't think I made home under a rock, as sedate as a camping trip to an outrageous rock climbing incident that nearly went horribly wrong. Nothing abnormal. Charlie originally argued that I shouldn't take time out of work at the moment because they were still looking for the murderers and he needed everyone on hand but he had relented in the end. I promised him that I would still keep an eye out and report anything new I heard but I did explain to him that I would not be working whilst I was away.

It was whilst I was positioning one of my sensors, I received a call from Jasper. "Bella's left." He said to me before explaining to me Alice's vision of the ballet studio and her note. "Edward is already on his way. Alice called him. She is now talking to Esme and she's heading to Rosalie."

"Will you need me to be there or shall I stay here? I believe Victoria has been gone a while, she's not going to be able to meet up with James with all of us between them." I huffed at the stubborn sensor before mumbling into the phone, "if one of us doesn't get to them first." With a pop, the sensor finally fit itself into the crevice of the tree I had been trying to fit it into gently. "Gotcha."

"Sera, I recommend heading to Edward's location. You are the only one able to catch up with him. I doubt he would be able to hold his own against James. Especially if Bella has been injured. With your experience and your ability, wife, you would be the best option to be Edward's back up until the rest of us can get there."

I chuckled, "I know that, love. But thank you for reminding me. I'll call Edward now. I love you."

"I love you." He said before I disconnected the call and immediately connected one through to my brother.

"Before you say anything, Edward. I need you to do the thing." I demanded quickly. "We do not have the time to argue, so please don't. Oh, and stop running. I may be undead but motion sickness is still a thing."

"This is not a time for humour, Serafina. My mate is in danger." I could hear the snarl in his voice but I could just as easily imagine it on his face.

"I know Edward. But you cannot expect to save Bella on your own without any harm coming to her. Now do the thing." A deep sigh left my body, "Edward. Please just do as I have asked. The longer we talk instead of doing something about it, it is more than enough time for Bella to be killed. Now do the damn thing so I can help!"

He quickly disconnected the call and my phone chimed with a notification with a GPS signal. Acting quickly, my chest tightened as I focused my ability; the energy spread through my body in satisfying tingles as I did so. I let the tingles intensify into full vibrations until I was ready to collect the energy into my chest to squeeze myself through the eye of a needle. As I appeared out the other side of the eye, I allowed the energy I had squashed into my chest to explode to cover the full area of my body before it slowed into the tingles I began with until it evaporated into the natural hum of my body.

"Still awesome." I whispered in glee. The skill of teleporting was like anything learnt, the more you dedicate yourself to practising the art, the likelier you are to become a master. "Lead on." I called after Edward as he had already made a head start.

We quickly gained on the studio from Alice's vision, and as Edward charged towards the building and the area where we could hear James taunting Bella, I diverted slightly off the straight line Edward had taken and shimmied through into the room just as James threw Bella towards the column I had appeared beside. Acting quickly, I managed to catch her upper body and stopped her head from smashing into the stone and glass but I did wince as I couldn't catch her legs and knew she would be walking in a cast when she is discharged from the hospital. "Sorry, Bella." Though I doubt she heard me as she was fixated on watching the two men fight. Smashed sections of mirror identified where either of them had thrown the other into the mirror in their fight.

I hunched over Bella as glass showered around us from Edward being thrown into the mirrors next to us. I looked up and snarled at Victoria as she stood next to James. I watched as Victoria gripped James' arm as she twitched backwards, I knew that her ability was kicking in to save herself and James with her and that just can't happen. I couldn't let that happen. With a slight shift onto the balls of my feet, I launched myself towards them and as expected, Victoria pulled James with her as she evaded my approach but did not account for my ability. I managed to catch Victoria's jacket as she moved and she lost her grip on her mate as I had his arm phase through her hand so I could slam into her and smash her face into the solid wall to allow Edward to focus solely on the male.

She gripped my arms and pulled in an effort to throw me away from her but I kept a hold of her arms in turn and twisted them behind her back and shoved my boot into her back in an attempt to rip her arms from their sockets but she ducked and used momentum to lift me over her back and in front of her. She released me and reached for my neck, though she didn't get a purchase on my skin as I grabbed her extended arm and snapped it away from me so she could no longer use the limb until she snapped it back into place but I did not give her the chance to do so.

I could only land well aimed blows onto her body because she kept skirting backwards away from me so she did not give me the chance to tear her apart as I wanted. As I needed. However, an unexpected scream cut through our focus as the strong stench of human blood filled the room. Victoria and I turned and found James being smashed into floor as Edward landed on him after he bit into Bella's wrist. This gave me the advantage over Victoria as I was unaffected by the blood as she was. With a large step in her direction, I managed to wrap my hands around her head and was able to twist it before she reacted but once she realised that her life was now seriously in danger; she ripped herself out of my grip where my hands fell to my sides with strips of skin falling to the floor. With a wistful and sorrowful glance at James, she ran off and out of the building.

Accepting that Victoria is now a lost cause, I booted James off of Edward and away from Bella. Once I had him away, I had Edward focus on Bella as she continued to scream from the venom in her system. James growled at me as he lowered into a predatory stance. I growled in return and blocked his advances towards our vulnerable human and followed him as he tried to side step to find a way around me. I could have laughed at the tracker as he tried to outwit me with false lunges but also he failed at intimidating me. Toying with him and to prove that he did not frighten me, I false lunged at him and was shocked to see that he jumped back! With this, I continued to follow through with the lunge and allowed his claws to phase through me as he reached out to me which startled him enough for me to wrap my hands around his head.

Assistance came in the form of Emmett as he wrapped his strong arms into a vice grip around James' torso and pulled away from me as I pulled on James' head. Out of the corner of my eye, I could see Jasper and Alice had begun to tear the floor boards up for a pyre. My eyes focused on James' hands as they tightened on Emmett's arm; without thought my ability affected James' hands as they lost strength and simply rested on Emmett's arm and with a growl, Emmett and I managed to separate the tracker's head from his body.

With a flick of my wrists, the head flew into the fire and I turned my attention to Bella. Alice had managed to tie a tourniquet made of her blouse around Bella's leg before she took my place and helped to dispose of James. I had just arrived at her side in time too as Edward failed to stop sucking on the human's wrist after he had successfully removed the venom as Carlisle was trying to say to Edward. With a sigh, I slapped my hand onto his forehead so I could incapacitate him enough for him to go numb and I had Carlisle remove Bella from Edward's hold once it was slack enough. Once I felt confident that Edward had recovered from the blood lust, I stopped vibrating the molecules within him and allowed him control of his body again.

"Sera, would it be possible that you could encourage Bella's cells to seal the wound on her wrist? I would wrap it in bandage but if we take her to a hospital and they open it, they'll question it." Carlisle asked as he checked her overall condition.

I nodded, "I can. But I will have to seal it with a scar. The wound is too deep to not heal without one." I looked to her face and noticed that her eyes were closed. "Is she unconscious?"

"Yes. The burn of the venom was too much." Carlisle confirmed whilst Edward stroked her face.

"She won't feel a thing then. Good." After I had finished with Bella's wrist, I stepped back over to the fire where Jasper, Emmett and Alice stood around watching the flames. "Are we letting the fire take the building or will we make it look like a juvenile arsonist trespassed?"

"That last one." Alice decided.

With a quick nod, I linked my fingers with Jasper's and had him follow me out of the building into the fresh air of the forest. I rubbed my other hand on his arm in comfort as he allowed himself to lose the effects of Bella's blood in a confined space. "You did well, darling. You weren't tempted at all." He smiled gratefully at me and gently planted a kiss to my temple before resting his forehead against mine. "Shall we go home, handsome?"

"What about the redhead?" He queried. His brow furrowed.

"Not our problem at the moment. She ran off at the first opportunity she had. She will not be making a scene with us for quite awhile so everything will be quiet from now."

"Good. Let's go home then, beautiful."