Chapter 14
A/N: This chapter's written in Alice's POV instead of Bella's. It also happens to be the penultimate chapter in the story..!
"No!" I screamed out in shock as an enormous winged creature grabbed Bella with its sharp claws and flew off with her to God knows where. Damn it, why hadn't I seen this coming? Stupid Pegasi, can't see their stupid future…
I reached out towards Edward, who had been just a few feet behind me. His face was shocked and disgusted. "Edward, do something!" I cried at him outrageously.
He stood utterly motionless, staring at the beast that was becoming a spot in the distance. He suddenly snapped out of his trance and let out a low growl.
"Thank you Alice, for enlightening me," he snapped. "Now, please could you tell me what the hell I am supposed to do? How do I get her back?" he yelled, verging on hysteria.
"I… don't know," I whimpered. I thought about sending him to run after her (he did run the fastest, after all), but what if he lost her? Did we seriously want to lose Bella and then get Edward lost as well?
While we were both contemplating other ideas, a flock of birds took to the sky. I was entranced by their beautiful white wings, not noticing they were flying directly towards us. I ducked and rolled away as one of them motioned to pick me up in its claw. Jasper was at my side in less than a second, holding my arm tightly.
Suddenly, all the wolves and the other Cullens appeared next to Edward, Jasper and I. They had seen them coming; the birds… No, not birds. They were people, with wings and talons.
Another Pegasi swooped then, trying to scoop one or all of us up. One of the wolves had a flash of inspiration, and when the Pegasi was lowest in the sky, he jumped.
He latched onto the creature with his teeth, and ripped out a portion of its leg. The Pegasi howled in pain, a cry like an eagle, or a hawk. The wolf discarded the piece of flesh, careful not to taste it, before readying himself to jump again.
The other wolves caught on quickly; they were all very good jumpers, and were all ripping pieces from the Pegasi whenever they came near enough to us. I felt more useless at that point that I had at any point over the last two weeks; not only could I not use my gift to help Bella at all, I was no use as a vampire either. I couldn't jump high enough to latch on to the creatures; none of us could.
I saw Edward still squinting into the distance; the Pegasi carrying Bella was still visible.
"If only…" I heard him whisper. Even though I was not the one with the mind-reading powers, I knew what he was thinking. If he was able to drink the potion, and follow Bella, he would do it. He'd give up his life, his vampirism, to go after her and bring her back safely. However, as warned by Jacob, the potion had no effect on vampires. Not that we could get our hands on the potion, anyway.
As if he knew what Edward and I were thinking, Jacob Black chose this moment to approach us. He was in human form, to my surprise. I would've thought he was in on the fighting.
"I could do it," he said, so quietly it was surprising we heard him at all.
This woke Edward from his daydream. "I'm sorry? You could do what?"
"I… I could drink it. The potion. I could go get Bella, and then…" Jacob said, still quietly. Trying not to alert Imogen, I imagined.
"But Jacob, you know its effect on wolves. You would…" I started. Then I realised; he was just as willing as Edward was. He would give up his life to save Bella, too. More than that: he was going to give up his life to save Bella.
"Jacob, wait!" I said, just a little too loudly, as he turned around. Imogen's sleek form whipped around to face him, and she growled. With her sweet face as a human, I couldn't even imagine her producing such a sound… It sounded threatening, like a warning.
Fortunately, Jacob paid more attention to his fiancée than he did to me. He looked at her, and mouthed two words. "I'm sorry."
Then, before I even had time to blink, he jumped up in the air, much higher than the other wolves were capable of. He phased right there, in mid-air, and bit off a chunk out of one of the Pegasi's wings.
Landing back on the ground with a dull "thud", Jacob grimaced while sucking all the moisture out of the flesh he had in his mouth. I could tell the taste repulsed him more than anything else, maybe even more than the smell of a vampire.
Emmett, Rosalie, Jasper and Esme, oblivious to Jacob's plan, looked thoroughly shocked at his action. I would have laughed, if the situation wasn't to horribly dire.
At that point, Jacob howled out in pain. His left shoulder-bone seemed to extend, like a giant hand reaching for something, and then the other one did the same. Shiny brown feathers sprouted from these newly-formed bones, and he cried out again. The other wolves cried with him, being able to read his thoughts and all. Jasper cringed beside me; Jacob's pain was affecting him, too.
I wanted to turn back time, to make Jacob come back and listen to me. Had he completely lost his mind? Bella wasn't even his to save!
As he grimaced for the last time, he took a run-up and took off up in the air, his large wings flapping and clashing in contrast with the other Pegasi's silvery white ones. I was suddenly glad that I couldn't see the future; I'm not sure anyone would be satisfied with the outcome of this unpredictable turn of events.