Essenza Del Lupo~
Lots of Florence and the Machine music muses. Hope you enjoy!
Glass shimmered in the night, like a broken pond under the moon.
The window pane fell together and apart, spreading shards over the carpet of my bedroom. The glass beaded and rolled; synched with the screeches ensuing from Jacob as he transformed.
A lone vampire stood in the emptiness of the window, teeth bared, legs apart and arms straight.
I didn't recognise him.
The window had been a floor to ceiling pane of glass; the empty square framed the intruder.
I was frozen in my shocked stance, like I had vines curling around my calves, rooting me to the spot.
Jacob, of course, attacked. The stranger ducked and weaved, so quick that Jake overcorrected his manoeuvre, sliding across the floor and stumbling out the window.
I shrieked his name instinctually, despite knowing he'd probably come out of the fall unscathed.
My hand was stretched out in an absurd gesture, as if I could physically stop Jake from falling. The vampire grasped my arm with his. A bizarre desire to fight back gripped me as I gazed into the reddened irises of my assailant. His lack of body temperature seemed to sink into my skin, ice slithered uneasily through my blood.
I thrust my elbow into his nose; my strength appeared to be closer to supernatural than human.
I was still stronger than an average person. Hopefully, I had the advantage of surprise. His head flicked back unnaturally, the sound of his bones cracking split the silence. I had seconds before he got the upper hand.
I watched as his head grotesquely swung back into place, his internal structure healing rapidly. His knuckles wrapped across my face with a harsh slap. I immediately righted myself, despite the agony that struck me. My speed, still unhindered by my condition, helped me spin around in his grasp, till I was standing behind him, bending his arm unnaturally so he let go. I struck my foot between his legs, then my elbow between his shoulder blades, forcing him onto his knees before me. Light seeped through the crack under the door, growing brighter within a split second. I smelled something burning, my eyes focused on the vampire as the sound of splintering wood was all I could hear. The door blew inwards, casting a rectangle of illumination onto the floor. I had my arm around the vampire's neck, his chin in the crease of my elbow as I prepared to tear his head from his shoulders. Stone ligaments, frozen muscle and concrete bone. I felt myself strain to finish the job before William provided the offender with a kick under the jaw, his head quickly detaching and rolling between my legs. Fissures ran from the point of severance, down the vampire's neck as it thudded limply to my feet.
William was at my side, grabbing my hand.
"Just wait," I whispered, grabbing a pair of jeans off of the floor and pulling them on.
I groped in my jaw for a t-shirt and pulled it over my head as I followed my brother into the hall and down the stairs.
I could sense it already.
"Where is everyone?" I demanded of William.
His face, concentrated and hard, showed no sign of hearing me.
"What the hell is going on?" I shouted, frustration rising quickly in the midst of my impromptu attack.
William led me to the back door that opened into the yard outside. Pushing it open, he broke into a run; I followed suit.
The forest was a dense wall, white shapes moving through it like marble ghosts.
Screams.
I stopped suddenly, stumbling to a halt on the uneven forest ground. Stones bounced away at the disturbance of my feet.
"Alice!" I cried, sick to my stomach.
They had come for me. That's the only conclusion I could come to.
I heard my sister wail with terror; my heart, it's fluttering beat felt ineffective as my blood thudded heavily, no air, no air!
William appeared out of nowhere, his speed was superior to mine; his hands closed over the tops of my arms in a restraint instead of a comfort.
"You can't help them. We have to leave." He said evenly, under the shadows that covered us.
I pulled away from him, towards the direction of Alice's desperate cries.
"I'm coming, Alice!" I shrieked, my voice cracking under the lead weight of emotion.
I ran at full speed through the dark, dodging the abrasive bark of thousand year old trees, rustling leaves in my wake. William's stone body slammed into me, his arms wrapping around my waist like a vice to keep me still.
"Let go!" I screamed.
"I want to keep you safe!" He shouted back, and although I couldn't see his face, I knew it was breaking with an ancient fear.
"You don't owe me anything, Will!" I spat angrily. "You wasted your life on me. I never wanted that for you!" I struggled from his grasp, wheeling around.
I saw my battered face in the reflection of his eyes. Today, he wasn't the middle-aged Vampire with a keen, destructive power. He was the young man who had lost his sister too long ago.
"But I love you for it—you've done it all, you've kept me safe. The only thing you can do for me now, is help me save my sister. If you lived it all again, you wouldn't let anyone stop you from looking for me, would you?"
He closed his eyes, his head lowering. I took it as an acquiesce.
"ALICE!" I screeched, searching the ground, the trees, the spaces of moonlight.
I approached a clearing without knowing it; the density of trees broke suddenly and I stumbled into a bare patch of wide, expansive grass and shrubbery.
I heard the slam of bodies and the screech of tearing Vampire flesh. Screams of pain issued from all around me. A creek ran peacefully at the bottom of a trench beside the clearing, a serene contrast to the chaos on dry land.
I scanned the area, unable to tell which side was which.
I saw a flicker of dark spiky hair out of the corner of my eye. A hand grabbed me at the wrist and pulled me to the left where Alice was crouched.
"It's Jane. She's inside my head, Rosalie," she sobbed. "I can't get to Jasper. I can't protect him when she's waiting to ambush me. I can't-I can't-" Alice was in tatters.
I'd never seen such a collected woman fall into this spectacular mess before now.
"She's keeping me away from the rest of them." She hissed, her golden eyes sparkling furiously.
"What are you talking about?" I prompted, wary of the empty woods around us.
Looking around, she explained to me, "Bella's power, it's like a mental shield. The rest of the family are in the fray, where Bella is. They're mentally protected. I broke from the group and Jane is hunting me, attacking me with her power before I can reach them to help them."
"The wolves?" I suddenly felt my stomach drop and my already racing heart beat started thundering ten-fold.
"They're here." She said, pulling me further into the trees, so we could move around the edge of the clearing.
"What happened to your face?" she asked off-hand.
"Vampire got a piece of me. But William and I finished him off. I'm okay to fight." I said, ignoring her incredulous look.
"It's harder for the rest of us to get killed, Rose. You can break bones by tripping over; you've replaced Bella as the liability."
I glared at nothing because of her words.
"They don't want to kill me, Alice. They just want to take me, so stop worrying about me and start thinking of how to win this." I snapped back, grabbing her cold hand and back tracking to where we were hiding before.
"Edward!" I burst out in shock as he fell to the ground, Felix's hand around his throat.
Before I could move an inch, Bella, fierce and beautiful, closed her mouth around the giant's neck, his hands moving behind his head, leaving him vulnerable for Edward to tear his torso apart.
I covered my mouth with my hand.
"You let your family fight for you, without even showing your face?" Jane's tinkling voice resounded from behind me.
Alice rounded and attacked, Jane's offensive was her power and never her strength. Alice crumpled to the ground without being touched. A slow growl grew into a blood-curdling scream torn from Alice's lips, her fingers scratching down her face.
"Stop!" I cried, "I'll go with you. Leave her be. Stop this fight and I'll go back to Volterra with you." I said, coming closer to her.
Her eyes left Alice and the screaming ceased. Her delicate, child-like hand closed over my arm above my elbow. Jasper broke through the line of trees, his hand shoved violently into Jane's face, throwing her small body back, falling yards away before she rolled into a crouch.
I ran into the clearing to get Bella, so she could protect Alice and Jasper while they killed Jane. Something hit me from the right side, pushing me to the ground. I rolled on top of them, pinning them beneath me momentarily.
"Victoria," I spat viciously.
Her arms wrapped behind my neck and she overpowered me.
I was on my back again and winded as she straddled my waist, her fingers like talons as she raked them across my chest, her head bowing towards my neck.
The searing of Vampire venom had me hurdling into unconsciousness.
I heard a sickening thud as someone's fist collided with Victoria's spine, her body was like dead weight on top of me until someone dragged her off me.
I was on the edge as a large figure wiped their mouth delicately under her jaw, as easily as running a knife through water.
"Emmett!" I breathed in wonder and surprise.
His small, mischievous smirk brought me back from the brink of passing out. He lifted me from the ground and I reached up to kiss him.
He then ran to continue fighting. For it was not desire that drove me to kiss him one last time, but the love I still had in my heart for a man that showed me nothing but.
I shuddered with shame as I realised he'd come to fight for us, despite my betrayal. I ran in his wake, searching for the mane of mahogany hair that belonged to my new sister.
"Bella!" I cried. "Bella!"
She whipped her head around, her eyes meeting mine instantly as she dispatched another Volturi guard.
"Alice and Jasper need your protection from Jane!" I shouted urgently, running towards her as if that would make the message seem more pertinent.
"Look out!" I heard someone yell. Carlisle?
I was lifted, and thrown with the strength of at least two vampires.
One was Aro, I realised as I was hurled through the air, falling hard onto the sloping ground outside the clearing. I slid down the mud and into the ice water of the creek, rocks and mossy boulders battered my body as I finally came to a halt.
Water streamed over me, as I struggled to sit up.
Distantly, I saw the tall, glowing licks of a fire in the clearing.
I could barely move as I waited for death in the creek bed. A gentle nudge and my head fell under the shallow depths of the clear water. A hand to my neck and the air rushed out of me, rising in bubbles to the surface. The thump-thump of my dying heart provided a morbid melody to this scene. The rushing water roared in my ears. I could imagine death being loud. But it was quiet.
Outside of my world, there would only be a man with his hand under the water, the slight splash of a body beneath him, struggling for power and failing. You would hear the night and nothing else.
I watched through the wavy crystal glass, the blurred face of the Volturi leader. His blackened face—courtesy of William—seemed to crumble as his expression moved.
I had almost been killed once. That man killed me out of a power hunger. Not power for money, power for supremacy over another person. I was about to die because this man wanted the power that my death brought. But I didn't understand. If I was such a rare Vampire, my gift incredibly uncommon—then why kill me?
Light burst in the dark. I hadn't realised I'd closed my eyes, but my eyelids were pink with the amount of light that was in front of them.
I had a feeling that if I opened them, I'd be blinded.
Water fell away from me, tumbling in rivers down my face. I felt warm hands and arms encircling me, dragging me away from the cold. My eyes flew open, my stomach contracting as I spewed out the water blocking my airway.
A sharp thump to my back made me aware that I'd been saved. I watched through bleary eyes as William sat down in front of me, hands still glowing. I looked down at the creek, as if I could see myself, pale and peaceful beneath the mirror surface.
The last of the water dribbled from my mouth as I coughed. A bizarre, black dust blew across the water and stuck to my skin. At first I thought it was dirt, but when it smeared over my wet skin like ash, I realised it was dead Vampire.
Jacob turned me around to face him. He was naked, just having phased to revive me. His hands closed gently over my cheeks, his face old and bare.
His expression was creased with torture.
"I'm so sorry," my face fell into the crook of his neck.
I was healing, but slowly.
His hand cradled the back of my head, as he soothed me with quiet murmurs.
"You shouldn't be here." He admonished me, pulling my face back to look at me, his mouth tight with anger and fear.
"I'd say the same for you but that's not going to make you leave, now is it?" I said.
"Less than two hours ago, we were together, and safe, and warm…" water dripped from his mouth, streaking the thick grime of ash on his skin.
His body painted with the dusty shadow of death.
"I have to go back and help." He said suddenly, eyes torn but yearning to defend.
"I'd do anything to keep you safe."
"I love you." I ground out quickly, afraid of what saying this might mean.
"I love you more." His body shuddered, rippling with the transformation.
I backed away, having regained my strength, breaking into a run to get back to the clearing before I was ambushed again in the shrouded trees.
I noticed with a keen shock that there were vampires here who weren't a part of my family. They weren't Cullens, but they were dismantling Volturi members, destroying their gargoyle remains and throwing them on the tall pyre.
We had more allies than I thought. I spotted Esme having trouble with two guards, a tall blonde vampire, and a shorter one with dark hair and a strange hue to his skin. It was as if he'd had an olive complexion when he was human. I could tell he was a fairly new Vampire. His skills were sloppy, and Esme was about to wipe the floor with him.
I ran behind them, catching her eye and grasping the blonde Vampire's arms, wrenching them backwards to a plethora of curses as I tore them from his body, kicking him to the ground as Carlisle intervened to finish destroying the body.
My parents stopped for a moment, sharing a look of adoration, and what I detected as pride. However misguided I thought that sentiment may be, I still felt my heart warm at their blind admiration of me, their daughter. However distant in biological relation we may be, we were undeniably blood bonded. By what makes a family in essence, and through the way in which we entered this second life. Edward, Esme and I shared Carlisle's venom.
I saw large dark wolves raise their heads to the moon, howling, a message to the night. I heard their fierce growls, their ingrained animalistic blood thirst. I hated that more of them may die for me; what did they owe me?
And as much as I was grateful, what did they really owe my family?
I may have received my answer as I saw nightmare incarnate get his arms around a smaller wolf. I had a feeling it was Seth Clearwater, Leah's little brother. Royce was going to kill him. I could hear the shudder inducing yelp of pain.
Edward sprung into action, shoving Seth out of the way as the little wolf huffed and limped off to the sideline.
Carlisle and Esme grew distracted with the last of the guard that tried to attack. They whipped past me, leaving me behind, in the deserted middle ground, staring at my demon and my brothers.
Edward chased Royce further into the trees, blocking my view. I followed hastily, meeting their presence within seconds.
I found William standing off to Royce's left as Edward forced him down to his knees, his eyes shocked and cowardly. I could see them scanning for an escape. He wasn't a fighter, not even for his own cause. He'd pick the winning side, even if it was the opposite to his.
I went to Edward's side, moving to look down into Royce's eyes. I wanted to do it.
I took a small step to my right, spreading my legs, pulling my hand back and letting it swing forward with all the force still left in me. My hand contacted the side of his head, his eyes on mine—
"Please—", his lip trembling as I stared at him plainly.
I felt his skull rattle and loosen from his spine, the rock hard tissue coming apart, crumbling like rubble and thudding dully onto the earth, spindled with weaving roots.
Edward bent down to pick up the pieces of stone clothed in traitorous skin. I turned away, no longer burdened by that.
We strolled, almost leisurely, back to the clearing. I saw friends of Carlisle's help the wolves in retrieving their injured from the surrounding woods. Eleazer, Carmen…Tanya?
Edward let the limbs topple into the orange blaze, the smoke lifting into the sky, a purplish tinge to the pungent cloud of burning death.
The fire glowed against Edward's skin as he stared into it. I heard something approach, expecting Jacob and getting a Volturi guard, the last one alive. He looked rabid, but frightened. He charged, and I expected him to aim at me. But he wasn't looking for a target, just someone to take down with him.
"EDWARD!" I screamed.
His speed allowed him to duck and weave out of the way. The strange Vampire slowed to a stop until another slammed into him, the fire engulfing both.
It happened so fast, I didn't even have time to stop him.