"You want her blood as much as I do. It smells so good, hmm." Victoria looked at me with vicarious thrill when mouthing the words to Laurent.
Laurent's eyes feasted on Bella's face which was half-hidden behind me. I could literally see the beast in him slowly waking up.
Every rational thought and caution was now completed overshadowed by his acute thirst. He was completely on the roll now. He marched straight over at me with a force that would have sent me reeling. I knew his move and managed to wobble just an inch away from his angry claws. The crash was enormous. Slabs of stone showered down from the cliff. Taking the tiniest opportunity, Victoria bounded along so quickly that I only had time to dump Bella before I was knocked skittering back against the cliff. She immediately jumped on me and grabbed me by the arms. I jabbed her away with my elbows and landed a backhand blow to her. She went reeling back with a hug of my shirt sleeves. Anger and anxiety rose in my throat. Laurent, equally strong and cunning as Victoria, was looking at Bella with a strange glint that was frightening. He didn't leap on Bella at this instance because he was afraid of Victoria's reaction. If he killed Bella, he would deprive her opportunity to take the revenge for her dear James. I calculated my stride and chose the route to take in that quarter of a second of his hesitation. I slipped up against his back and gave a sharp rap on his neck. He let out a hoarse furious shout. I jumped over him and stood between him and Bella. In feverish haste, I took Bella back in my arms.
"You are bleeding!" Bella looked at the sparkling silver trickling from my left arm where Victoria's angry nails had bitten into. Her eyes were wide with fear.
"I am alright, Carlisle would take care of that when we return back home." I said with a twinge of guilt. I was making it up, just to reassure her. Although I could dimly hear my family's thought, they were too far away to rescue us in time. We no longer had the cliff to protect our back. Victoria and Laurent would circle us in no time. I couldn't stop thinking that we were going to die, that Bella had to die. This was no dream, this was really happening to us. I felt emptiness gnawing in my stomach. It felt like a stone was lying on my chest. Everything would disappear, forever. I moved Bella to the front and buried my face against her neck. I watched her face with pained scrutiny, to fix each detail in my mind. My only hope now was that Bella's death would be a quick and painless one.
"It's time to end the game." Victoria said with a calm cruelty that made me shudder.
Bella looked at me with the same scrutiny, hot with suppressed emotion. Her look was dark with concern, with a slight tint of desperation and melancholy. She mouthed a silent "I love you always" before turning to face Victoria with a blazing stare.
"I wouldn't let you torture me to death in front of Edward. This is what you are going to do, right? I wouldn't let Edward suffer like this!" I felt her body against mine slumbering forward, as if she had been beaten. The air was immediately pungent with a smell of blood, a smell that I most loved and dreaded on earth – Bella's blood.
