All Hell Breaks Loose
Alice's POV
I growled at Jake, but the big oaf wouldn't leave. I hated being blind with an army headed our way. Our little army was waiting in the clearing I had seen in my visions of the battle. A fierce wind blew through the trees, carrying many different scents with it. Rose petals, bamboo, and silk infiltrated my senses. Even now, sixty years later, I knew that scent well.
"Who is it?" Edward asked, picking up on my thoughts. Next to me, Jasper tensed, realizing who was approaching.
"I'll give Heidi this, she really does have a knack for making sure the past comes back to bite you in the ass," I seethed. The wind continued to carry the scents of multiple vampires to us, and I easily recognized the rest of the New York coven. "The silk and bamboo is Mai-Li and her mate, Chi-Yang. She is a very lethal fighter. He is a son of Genghis Khan. The annoying metallic clicking is Ivan playing with his lighter; which he always does on the way to a fight. Imagine a violent Emmett who drinks human blood, and you have Ivan— almost to a tee."
"Dibs," Emmett called excitedly. I threw a glare in his direction.
"If we're calling 'dibs', I'll take Chi-Yang," Jasper offered. I directed my stab of panic straight at him. "Alice, someone has to fight him. Would you rather it be an inexperienced fighter, or someone who knows his style? We have sparred before."
I hesitated for a second and took a good look at my family. I did not want any of them to fight Chi-Yang, or any of the other New Yorkers for that matter. My old friends were too deadly. "You brought me here, Alice," Jasper reminded me, holding my face in his hands. "I was very reluctant to share you, and even more reluctant to trust others with your safety. Nevertheless, you made me believe it could work, and you were right. They're my family, and I love them— even Rosalie. I will protect my family." Instantly, I melted into my mate's embrace. Wrapped in his love, I allowed the optimism to seep through my mind.
"Thirty seconds," I whispered. "Go after Chi-Yang if you must, Beloved, but be careful. I can't lose you. I will engage Mai-Li."
"She is the only one of them I will regret destroying," Jasper mused humorously. "Enemy or not, the woman has my eternal gratitude." Despite myself, I laughed.
"I spent a fair amount of time plotting her death that day. I was going to slowly tear her into tiny pieces, spread them out over a thorny field, dowse the field in gasoline, and set it ablaze," I admitted, lost in the past. "Of course, Bella considered doing the same to me when I decided to share the wisdom."
"What did you expect?" Bella asked incredulously. "It was not a conversation I wanted to have with my sister!"
"Rosalie didn't seem to have a problem with it," I told her with a shrug. "Besides, I have ears, you know? There is no way on Earth you still hate me for it!" Jasper's body shook with laughter.
"Was that your mysterious Christmas present to the girls back in '69?" he asked. I nodded. "You picked that year for a reason, didn't you?" I nodded again, grinning impishly, but only for a second. Our time was up. Heidi and her army had arrived. Our loose formation seemed unorganized in comparison to their rows and columns. Their final numbers stood at eighteen. Mai-Li, Chi-Yang, Ivan, Vasily, and Lena zeroed in on me instantly.
"I always knew the Volturi would come for you, Alice," Ivan called, a wicked smile twisted across his lips.
"Fool," Eleazar yelled to him. "The Volturi has nothing to do with this fight, and Aro will see you all burn for your part in this forbidden vendetta. What lies has this vixen fed you?"
"Enough, Eleazar! You left the Volturi many years ago and forfeited your right to speak against us," Heidi spat.
"Think," Eleazar said to the New Yorkers. "If the Volturi wanted to decimate the Cullen family, why would they recruit nomads and seated covens? Why would only one guard be present for the battle? Heidi's true prerogative is to destroy Isabella Cullen for the slip in control that made her into a vampire. Dale wishes to kill Carlisle Cullen and his mate, Esme, because Carlisle took his life. Dale was married to Esme a few years ago, but he raped and abused her. He was sent to prison for the things he did, and just last September he escaped. He tracked Esme down and abused her again. Carlisle was protecting his mate."
"Mai-Li, we owe you so much for your gifts," I said, seizing my opportunity to speak. "I will fight you if I have to, but it would be in everyone's best interest if the five of you went back to New York."
"I have to look out my mate and myself, just as you do," she said. "You left New York so you would not burn because of us."
"Aro forbade Heidi to exact her revenge on Bella out of friendship to Carlisle," I said, twisting the truth just a little bit. "The Volturi may not be after me, but if the five of you don't leave, they will be after you. If one of us dies, the Volturi will burn those involved."
Heidi turned to face her suddenly uncertain army. "They are lying," she said, pouring every ounce of persuasion she had into the words. The army regained its confidence almost instantaneously.
"Where is the bastard?" Dale yelled furiously. "The coward could kill me as a human, but he can't handle an even playing field?" My family growled in outrage.
"Carlisle had his turn," Edward and Bella said together.
"You hurt Esme," Emmett and Rosalie continued.
"Now, you will pay," Jasper and I finished. I was vaguely reminded of The Princess Bride and one of its most famous quotes, 'Hello, my name is Inigo Montoya. You killed my father. Prepare to die!'.
"Yes, and she'll make a wonderful snack once I'm done here," Dale said with a sickening grin. Hate boiled inside me until everything went red. The rage leaking from Jasper was almost visible as it seeped across the meadow, causing the two armies to surge forward. The three wolves— Jake, Leah, and Seth— charged at Dale. I heard the metallic screech of his limbs being removed. We had planned this earlier. His death would be slow and painful. I turned away from Dale's screams to face Mai-Li. We circled slowly, each looking for an opening in the other's stance. Fires were being lit in a few different places. I flitted back and forth between the present and the future, trying to anticipate her first move, but an opening didn't form itself until a hand was hurtled at Mai-Li's head.
Jasper smiled at me for fraction of a second, and I took the opportunity to attack, wrenching her left arm off and tossing it into a nearby pyre. On the ground, Chi-Yang's severed hand was scrambling to find its body. I kicked it into the same fire consuming Mai-Li's arm.
"I offered you the chance to leave," I reminded her. Mai-Li growled and swiped at me with her remaining hand. I dodged the blow easily, catching her arm. She let loose a high pitched shriek as I pulled it off. Mai-Li lifted a leg in an attempt to kick me, but I twisted out of the way. Reluctantly, I turned my back on Jasper's battle against Chi-Yang. My opponent's mate was not doing well. Pain flooded her eyes, and a deep, victory cry sounded behind me. Mai-Li sank to her knees, and I knew Chi-Yang was gone. As an offer of mercy, I tore her head off quickly. It snapped away along the same line from many years ago. Jasper and I dropped the pieces of the Chinese mates unceremoniously into separate fires.
I took a moment to look around. Ivan must have suffered defeat at Emmett's hands because my brother now held the New Yorker's lighter. Heidi and Bella were locked in a death match, and even I did not know who would come out alive. Other than that, our enemies had dwindled to a fair few. The main battle was over a few minutes later. Only Heidi and Dale remained. The nomad, Mary, took her leave, needing to hunt and reattach a large chunk of her side.
I turned my gaze to Dale's broken and mangled body. Jasper grasped my hand and we walked to him together.
"You will never hurt my mother again," I spat.
"Before we kill you, I will make you feel every ounce of pain you gave her," Jasper said, his voice calm but deadly. He closed his eyes in focus and when they opened, Dale's face contorted with misery.
"Let's put Humpty Dumpty back together again," Edward said with a tone of pure menace. While Jasper kept Dale wrapped in the many layers of abject suffering he had caused Esme, we reattached his arms and legs as securely as possible. It gave us more of him to torture. We sent Peter, Charlotte, Randall, Garrett, and the Denalis away. Rosalie stepped forward with more fury in her eyes than I had ever seen her show.
"I. Hate. Rapists!" she growled. Each word was punctuated with a sharp kick to Dale's groin, and the sound of crumbling stone filled the silence following her words. Dale screamed with pain.
"Just kill me and get it over with," he begged. Jasper, still forcing him to bear Esme's pain, smiled cruelly.
"No," he said simply. "I would rather watch you suffer. I believe we're ready for the gasoline." I nodded readily and flitted to get the gas can at the edge of the forest. Once I returned, I poured the gasoline over his feet. Emmett, using Ivan's lighter, lit a twig and dropped it onto Dale's feet. The sadistic man howled in agony as the flames crept slowly up his legs and onto his torso. Edward and Bella tossed dirt onto his body to smother the fire. Next we lit his hands, following the same procedure. All the while, Jasper kept the vile man trapped in the aftermath of his wrongdoings. To end it, we tore him into tiny pieces, one finger at a time until there were no fingers left. The sun had long been set before we finished snapping his body into pieces no bigger than one of my hands. My family and I watched Dale's pieces burn into ash next to Heidi's. The full moon glowed brightly over us as the flames died.
Quietly, I pulled my cell phone from my pocket and dialed Carlisle's number. "It's over. Dale is gone. You can come home now," I told him eagerly. A sigh of exultant relief answered me.
"Is everyone okay?" Carlisle asked.
"The family is fine. As a matter of fact, some of us are better than fine. You'll see when you get home, but please hurry. I miss you guys, and we still have a wedding to put on when you get back."
"I'll charter a private jet if I must!" he swore and hung up. Briefly, I saw him telling Esme the good news and calling the airlines. A surge of happiness flooded through me. Soon, my family would be complete for all eternity!