CHAPTER TEN

BPOV

Without a word they were off. Emmett ran at Tia, reaching out a huge arm to pull her in. A small part of my mind dismissed all I had heard about her. She was slim and tiny. And Emmett was good.
The relaxed expression on Tia's face was gone: teeth lengthened, eyes focused and cold. She snarled and- moved. Under Emmett's arm, up on the other side and tossed him over her shoulder. Moving around to meet oncoming Jasper who kicked-

TPOV

A back-bend then up and punch. Right, left, right, right-

BPOV

Tia unleashed a furious onslaught of punches, all aimed at Jasper's face. He barely blocked her in time. Out of nowhere, Alice leapt into the fray. She clawed at Tia's face, causing her to plummet and spin kick, knocking Alice's legs out from under her. But Emmett was back, joined by Rosalie. Together they spun around her, trying to disorientate-

TPOV

Up. Gotta go up! Leap into the trees. Fast! Faster! They've just caught on. Up! Higher, until-

BPOV

As Tia seemed to shoot into the trees, the other followed behind, lagging even with their superior numbers. They circled around their prey so a circle was formed surrounding her. They were just visible now, white frantic blurs among a calm green and brown camouflage. Tia was at the top of her pine. They were going to reach her. Where was she going to go?

TPOV

Drop.

BPOV

She just fell. Like a swimmer diving into water, she gracefully sped down towards the ground, abandoning her pursuers to the treetops; she fell, until just before gravity took its toll, she flipped to land on her feet. Crouched, she looked up and winked at us. The she was gone, speeding into the trees, with Jacob following her and the vampires close behind.

Wow.

This all occurred in the space of a couple of minutes. I was stunned. No vampire- even Jasper or James or Charlotte- had fought with such grace and style, instead with just instinct. Tia almost had a kind of lethal beauty, like a tiger or a hawk.

"Wow." I was obviously impressed and Edward laughed, his good humour restored by the display.
"What did you think?"
"It was like nothing I have ever seen. Well, that's not saying much when it comes to fighting but- I mean, have you ever seen anyone else do that?" I shook my head, "you probably have-"
A kiss shut me up. "No, Bella." He held me close. "I have never seen anyone but Tia fight like that. Although, you do know that they are just warming up?" I squirmed to see his eyes, disbelieving. But no, no. He was serious.
A thoughtful silence fell over us.

"Carlisle met her when she was fighting." Edward stated.
"Did he meet Ares?" I didn't even have the energy to be amazed anymore.
"No. She was clashing with a vampire in Venice. Apparently he was making vampires but then abandoning them if they didn't show any gifts. "A small chuckle. "He had quite a large coven and many of them were turning up dead. The Volturi went to see who was killing 'innocents', right under their noses. Carlisle stumbled upon Tia brawling with the man himself.