A/N

I do not own anything Twilight.

Many, many thanks to SqueakyZorro for beta work on this!

Thank you all for reading and for reviews – they really mean a lot to me!

The story is coming to the end now. One more chapter after that one.

14. Rescue me

After I finished talking to Felix, I returned to the family. They were all looking at me expectantly, awaiting answers.

"I called the Volturi," I informed them, not meeting their glances.

"What? Why?" they asked almost in unison.

I quickly recounted the call I got from Victoria. When I got to the part with "Jasper's pieces," my voice broke down.

"There's no other way we can deal with it," I explained. "Maybe I should wait for her next call, but well, I think there is no point. She would kill us all anyway. Even if she's just after me, accidents can happen on the way. I'm sure of it. Felix said that he would call me back in a few hours to let me know if they're coming to help. But they surely wouldn't leave such a dangerous thing – let her recruit more of this army – so most probably they'll send the guards here soon."

The Cullens agreed with my reasoning. Even Emmett, who really wanted to fight the whole army by himself, had to admit it wasn't really possible. So, we waited.

I sat on the ground, with my head in my hands and eyes closed, praying again, and again, and again. Please let him be okay, please let him live, please let him be okay…

I felt someone putting a hand on my back.

"Bella, will you be all right? With them coming here?" Carlisle asked.

I looked around to see we were alone. Emmett and Rosalie must have left us some time before.

"I don't know," I said honestly. "But what else can I do? If there's a chance for Jasper, I have to try anything I can."

It took one more day before Felix called me back. As I had expected, he assured me they would take care of the situation. Their arrival was scheduled in two days. I asked who was coming, but Felix just informed me that the number would be enough, and that he would be coming, too. I was glad he would be on the team, even though something in his voice felt odd. But as long as they were willing to help me, I didn't question the motivations behind it.

The waiting was killing me though. I was checking my phone every five minutes, filling the moments in between with my "save-Jasper" mantra. I tried to ask Emmett to help me prepare to fight, but he just laughed at me – no one even considered me capable of violence or having any combat skills. I was hurt a bit because I felt desperate enough to fight, but I didn't voice it.

Then, after an unbearable amount of time, my phone finally rang.

"We've just landed," Felix said. "Where can we meet?"

I told him our location, and after what seemed to be an eternity, he emerged from the woods, followed by quite a large group of dark-cloaked figures. How cliché... I thought. I could sense Jane in the group, probing me as usual, and I flinched. If there was anyone in the world I wished death to, apart from Victoria, it was that small, evil bitch. But I said nothing. I shouldn't be picky when it came to those who offered help.

We did a small briefing before going to town. The guards seemed to be disturbingly well informed about the situation, as if they not only knew about the whole thing since the beginning but planned it, too. But again – I tried to stop being suspicious and be grateful for their help.

We all moved quickly and soundlessly to the place where Emmett and Rosalie had spotted the vampires. The sun was just setting, but the streets in this part of the town were mostly empty. We reached a small, dirty house at the end of the road and took our positions. My role was to follow the guards and look for Jasper, trying not to get in the way of others too much. I was okay with it, looking for Jasper being my main goal, anyway.

"***"

When we entered the place all hell broke loose in one moment. It was like one of those S.W.A.T. operations, or action movies, where everyone is running around shouting and fighting each other. We just didn't have guns.

I tried to keep myself unnoticed while I searched one room after another in the old house. The windows were painted black or covered in wood panels, so it was fairly dark inside. In every room there were bunches of vampires, and I could only admire the Volturi's deadly efficiency with getting rid of them. I tried to not pay attention to the ripping sounds and growls and stop worrying about Emmett, Rosalie and Carlisle. They were somewhere at the back anyway, helping the guards and making sure that no one escaped, or alarmed the humans.

I suspected that, if Jasper was a captive, he'd be somewhere where it would be easy to restrain him. So I searched for a cellar. I went downstairs and found an unguarded, closed metal door.

I didn't know why, but I imagined he would be lying somewhere on the ground, battered and stained with blood. But he was a vampire, for God's sake! It wasn't possible.

I opened the door, breaking the lock in the process. And he was there, standing motionless by the opposite wall, observing the door, ready to attack. He was okay. He was okay. That was the only thing I could think about.

When his eyes met mine, he ran to me in an instant and crashed into me with such force that I stumbled back and almost landed on my bottom. He hugged me tight for the briefest moment and released me, assessing my look before shoving me quickly behind him - just in time to prevent a tall, bulky vampire, who must have followed me through the door, from lunging at us.

We slowly moved upstairs. I was so shocked at finding Jasper alive and so overwhelmed with unnamed emotions, I was just following him without a word. Whenever we encountered any opponent, Jasper dealt with it quickly, almost effortlessly. I hadn't seen him being violent before – apart from my birthday incident – so I was amazed to see him in action. He surely did know what he was doing. He was calm, precise, and strong. Fucking glorious. And scary as hell, as well. At least he was scaring me to death. I didn't know what to think about this warrior-Jasper.

But before I could start dwelling on that, we emerged outside to see the remains of the army being literally ripped apart by the Volturi's guards. Carlisle was also there, but he wasn't participating in the battle. He was standing at the back, observing the front porch. When he saw me with Jasper, his eyes lit up. But we didn't have time for cheerful reunions. I tried to focus on the scene in front of me. The guards seemed to have fun with the killing, which was extremely disturbing to me. But something else was off, as well.

I saw Victoria standing next to Jane, both looking at the end of the battle with regret in their eyes. Jasper saw them, too, and lunged at Victoria without warning. That was when I noticed Jane direct her eyes to Jasper. I knew well what was coming. I wouldn't let that happen ever again.

"No!" I yelled and moved myself in front of Jasper before Jane even had the time to blink.

Jasper bumped into my back, but I stood firm on the ground.

"What…" he started, but he was interrupted by the bored voice.

"Well, well, look at that. So, finally, you let us see what you've got. I always knew it was just a matter of… appropriate motivation," Jane purred, not taking her glance from Jasper.

I could feel her struggle to bypass me in order to reach Jasper.

"Fuck you," I said. "Leave him alone."

"Mind your language if you don't want him to be hurt," Jane hissed, but she was interrupted by Felix, who moved beside her, shooting her an icy glance.

"Aro expressed himself clearly, that he wished no more harm to be done to this family," Felix said sternly.

"Yes, well, I'm sure he'll be interested to hear about our little discovery here, though." Jane half-smiled. "He'll be pleased to know he was right about her being a shield, just like he suspected." She finally stopped trying to get to Jasper.

"Yes, he will be," Felix said. "As much as he'll be interested in how this redheaded idiot was able to gather such a force without anyone noticing it," he added, looking at Jane intently.

"No harm done, then," she said lightly and walked away, taking Victoria with her.

"She must die," Jasper said to Felix. I wasn't sure if he meant Victoria or Jane…

"I'll make sure she receives her punishment," Felix assured him vaguely. Again, I couldn't tell which one he was talking about.

Jasper was about to say something more but changed his mind and just stood there. I could feel his tension, though.

"Now, if you'll excuse me, we have to finish here and go back home. Aro has a lot of patience, but we don't want to push it," Felix continued.

I could see that the whole battle was over. None of the newborns had survived. It all went so quickly… I tried not to think that they had been humans once, that they had families, who might have been still hoping to get their loved ones back. I tried not to acknowledge that it was me again who brought death upon someone. I was interrupted by Felix's voice.

"It was nice seeing you, Bella," he said slowly. "You look… better."

"Thank you, Felix," I replied, reaching for Jasper's hand and entwining my fingers with his. "For everything."

"You're welcome," Felix said, looking down at our clasped hands. "Jasper, Carlisle." He nodded to them and turned around to leave.

And within a few moments the Volturi were gone, Victoria with them, the last guards lighting the fire to burn the remaining vampire pieces before disappearing into the night.