Chapter 25

BELLA

He didn't hear me.

Instead, he tumbled away from Jeremy's powerful weight, and then lunged after him again, frantically biting at his neck. I could only remain where I was, watching Jacob fight for his life and lose grip of the possibility of winning. He needed help.

I needed to help him.

How?

I shakily started to stand up, frantically searching for a way to get in between the wolf brawl. They were all too molted together for me to yank them off him…and their figures were moving too fast.

What to do- what to do-

Suddenly, another blur flew out from behind me, the flashing colors of dark grey and white the only thing I could comprehend. The dark grey wolf snarled in rage as it grabbed hold of Raymond's neck and practically threw him off of Jake's back. I recognized that wolf too! Hope alighted inside me as I whirled around to more disgusting and familiar wolf scents.

Jake was never alone.

The entire Quileute wolf pack was now bounding across the meadow at full speed, their fur blowing as far backwards as possible from their speed. Their bright eyes were entirely concentrated on their targets, and none of them went for me as they passed by.

All except for one of them, who knocked me down since I was in the way and he didn't see me beforehand.

I didn't even care. Happiness flooded through my features, and a brilliant smile took hold of my face. Oh, Lord! Thank you!

The attackers, including Salvador, had finally taken their gazes off of my family, and did their best to comprehend what the hell was going on. The third attacker slashed at one wolf's leg and brought it down, but it luckily was able to get back up and continue fighting.

My legs took off in the direction of the pile of vampires.

They all were breathing heavily and in relief from finally getting out of Salvador's torture. I automatically fell to Carlisle and Esme's sides, holding their shoulders for support. "Carlisle…Esme, you alright? Can you stand?"

It took a couple more breaths for Carlisle to finally get back to me. "Y-Yes…yes, we're fine, I'm…yes, Bella, we're fine."

I took their words for it and rushed over to the beautiful blonde vampire trying his best to stand. My hands gripped his arms, and helped him continue remain on his feet. "Take it easy… you've got time. The wolves are keeping them busy."

"Wolves…" he breathed heavily, glancing over my shoulder to see all the balls of fur fighting each other. His eyebrows creased with disapproval, but then again it could have been because he was still feeling pain.

"Take it easy…" I repeated softly.

Somewhere behind us, Aro made a really unusual shriek as he stood and began straightening his robes. "Dear me…" he uttered, his eyes looking slightly twisted. "Now I understand how dreadful it feels to be consumed by a pink ghost…"

I looked at Caius with a raised eyebrow. All that torture must have triggered Aro loopy.

"Is everyone good?" Carlisle asked in a strained tone. The groan of pain from all the vampires wasn't very reassuring, but everyone appeared to be alive. Jane was still on the ground, her face unconscious and settled from her loss of power.

"H-He still has it…" Alec choked, his eyes crumpling as if he were about to cry. "Her power…she's not waking up, master-"

"Calm down, boy," Caius muttered in an irritated tone, still gripping my shoulders for support. He obviously had to be the leader now, since Aro was beginning to walk in circles. "Felix, Demeti," he faced his two top henchmen. "Try to get behind those…erm," he waved his hand at the Quileute tribe. "Things…and twist Salvador's neck. If he's taken down, we'll have Jane back with us and we can end this."

Both Felix and Demetri nodded at their orders, and unstably headed towards the group of werewolf fights. Caius moved uncomfortably in my grip until he was in a better position. "As for you," he looked at me with much softness. "You're fine?"

"Perfectly," I assured. "But right now, you're going to need to go along with the wolves. They're helpful allies, I promise."

"Hmph," Caius murmured as he looked up ahead. I realized he was staring at the large black wolf that seemed to be approaching us. He studied the two of us with calculating eyes, and I dearly hoped Caius wouldn't take it as some sort of a threat.

"He wants to know if you're the leader," Edward called out to us from the crowd of aching Cullens.

Caius raised a perfect eyebrow at the words, but looked back up at Sam in a calm and sophisticated manner. "I am one of them, yes."

Sam's eyes flickered, and his ears flattened slightly. Caius called Edward over to translate for him, while most of the other vampires moved in to help kill the attackers. "He is confused…" Edward said slowly, looking up at Sam for approval. "As to why all of us couldn't manage to kill three lone vampires."

My grip on Caius's arms tightened. Please let him not get offended and attack them instead!

"They can steal our powers," the blonde vampire gazed at the wolf defiantly. "And use them as their own. They now have hold of one of our strongest guard's powers. In due time, be assured that they will use the power against your pack, and we will all be defenseless, including yourself."

Suddenly, on cue, yelps and screams cut through the atmosphere, and a good fraction of the pack of wolves were now on their backs, howling in agony. Sam's ears flattened entirely, and rushed backwards to help his pack until he too became under Salvador's deadly stare.

Not too far away, Jake began wobbling away from his pack, apparently not under the spell like the others. I stepped forward to help and thank him, until I noticed there was something wrong with his eyes, and he began scratching at them uncomfortably. Jake yelped in annoyance, and he blinked a series of times.

"He's blind," Caius told me hoarsely.

I whirled on him, cradling Jake's head. "What?"

"Its not permanent," the blonde vampire examined Jake's almost colorless eyes. "But it will remain unless Salvador takes the power off him. Looks like he broke out Alec's power to cut off senses as well as using Jane's."

"Oh, God, no," I begged. "Jake!"

Jacob's head swirled and he shook it violently, clawing once more at his face. He barked and growled in frustration.

"If he's blind, then he's probably deaf as well," Caius gave my werewolf friend a hard look. "He probably can't smell you, either."

Hatred boiled within me. First they torture all my friends, family, and Caius…and now they hurt Jake like this?

"How…?" I weakly looked up at him. "How can we stop them…?"

He returned my look sincerely. "With some luck, I'm sure Felix and Dem-"

He collapsed.

In pain. Again.

I screamed loudly, almost as loudly as he was. My fingers sunk themselves in my hair and I let out a shriek of desperation. Why couldn't Caius be the one immune to it so he could fight them? He would be so much more heroic than I ever was…

I gripped Caius's hand as affectionately as I could, despite the fact it was shaking, and held for dear life. "I'm not leaving you…" I nearly sobbed. "I'm not leaving you…"

"So," a loud and arrogant voice called from behind me. "What do you say, Terrance? Do you want to do the honor of getting rid of her? Once she's done and out of the way we can move on with the rest of the executions."

I dropped Caius's hand, and turned to face the two attackers. They were closer than I expected, but I didn't dare move and expose them to Caius. I was going to defend him until the end.

The second attacker, Terrance, examined me with a frown before looking back at his leader. "She obviously has a much better power than any of the others. Personally, I think she's too valuable to dispose of."

My mind whirled at the thought. I always knew I was different… how Edward couldn't read my mind or Jane couldn't hurt me with her burning power. But did I really have a power of my own?

Salvador tossed him an exasperated glance before focusing back on me. "Clearly, Terrance, you are just yearning for a female companion. Besides," he stepped towards me, and I stepped backwards. "If she truly was all that valuable, she would be a warrior and try to stop us instead of standing there, muttering useless words for us to stop."

That smug grin did it all for me.

I lunged at him, but Terrance held me back, reading my move before I even did. Salvador continued to smile, and motioned Terrance to drag me out of the way so he could finally face the twitching and pained Caius. I struggled as violently as I could to get out of the second attacker's grip.

"Don't you dare touch him!"

Salvador looked at me curiously before grinning back down at the blonde vampire. "Say, Lord Caius. You're not looking too well."

Caius struggled to focus on them past the pain, but it was clear he meant to glare. Salvador shook his head. "Hurts, doesn't it? Well that's exactly what you and the rest of your disgusting clan gets. Some royalty you were." Caius screeched louder, and his hands flew to his eye sockets. Something inside me dropped. Oh, no.

He was blinding Caius.

"STOP!" I screamed, falling to the ground to help tear Terrance's grip off my arms. "STOP! PLEASE! PLEASE- JUST STOP-"

"I doubt you'll need your sense of smell," Salvador barely regarded me. Caius's entire face was buried agonizingly in his hands. He began yelling even louder than before.

My eyes raged as I stared at the attacker. HATRED.

"Why would Aro ever choose you to be his companion?" the attacker mocked cruelly down at him. "You don't even have a power. You're worthless. You have no talent."

HATRED. HATRED. It coursed through my body.

Salvador then stepped backwards before sending a horrible kick in Caius's gut. He cringed at the unbearable pain, and I heard his side crack a bit from the kick. I screamed with him, feeling his every pain and every break.

"You're all too weak to stay in charge," Salvador spat.

HATRED. HATRED. HATRED.

Another kick, another crack.

"Weak."

HATRED. HATRED. HATRED. HATRED.

"Have fun rotting in hell with the rest of your disgusting clan," Salvador smirked horribly.

I bit Terrance's wrist as hard as possible, biting down until I found the other side my fangs. Terrance grunted in pain, and he pushed me against the earth, holding me down with his weight.

Salvador's foot came down roughly on Caius's arm. A thick, ugly crack line appeared all the way from his elbow. Caius was drowning in the incredible burning.

Salvador laughed at the both of us.

"Can't believe this was our competition," he muttered disapprovingly.

SO MUCH DAMN HATRED.

Something stirred. I could feel it. Something stirred within my being... my arms… my legs…

"Die, Volturi scum," Salvador leaned over the writhing blonde, preparing to rip off his head.

NO.

HATREDHATREDHATREDHATRED!

I felt it before I saw it. Energy shot out from my fingertips, alighting my entire being full of power. And then, I saw a pure crystal blue wave of elastic hover from my head, sparking and radiating with complete energy. It spread fifty yards, all the way over to where the Cullens were lying, all the way to where Jake was clawing at himself.

Salvador stared up at it in raw amazement, completely forgetting his victim as he stood up slowly. The shield ran about forty feet upwards, covering the entire battlefield in a perfect dome shape. Terrance slowly began to crawl off of me, holding the wrist I punctured with my teeth.

"My God…"

Salvador was completely entranced. "I've never seen such-"

He never got to finish his sentence.

The shield itself must have freed all the vampires of Salvador's wrath, because Caius was on his feet the second Salvador was distracted. From behind, Caius grabbed his neck with his arm while his hand caught a hold of the top of his head. Salvador desperately struggled, but Caius twisted the attacker's neck both ways before finally releasing him, his body falling to the ground. Defeated.

The weight of Terrance completely left me, and I turned around to see where he disappeared. Terrance had already fled.

My being filled with giddiness. I did it! I did have a power! That shield- that breaker of Salvador's powers was all me! My arms flew around Caius before he could turn around to face me, and I let out a shaky laugh of relief.

"We did it…!" I breathed.

He pulled back, and let out a shaky breath of his own. "Well, there's still that other guy, but Demetri can probably find him in a blink," he smiled and tucked a piece of loose hair behind my ear. "You saved my life, you know. You saved all of our lives."

"I didn't even know I had a power," I admitted.

"Well, you're too special to not have one," he gave me a slight smile. I returned it, but my fingers automatically flew to his cheek to where I saw another slight crack.

"Oh, Caius…" I whispered. "Are you still hurt?"

"This?" he motioned at the cracks in his body. "No, it's fine. I barely even feel it, and it will probably heal back up in a couple minutes. The real pain was Jane and Alec's. God, I hope I never do anything to piss them off…"

"You're their master," I assured.

"Glad I am," he responded.

My eyes averted from him to the wolves and the rest of the vampires standing up and checking each other for any serious injuries. Aro and Marcus both appeared next to us, and Aro put a proud hand on Caius's shoulder. "Well, brother. Good work. I can always rely on you when things get a bit, erm… life threatening."

Caius nodded in return. "It was a close call. But the gratitude goes entirely to Bella. Her and her abilities will never cease to be outstanding."

"Indeed they won't," Aro looked over at me, his milky red eyes glowing with a weird vibe. "Any woman who teaches me the wonders of video games will be quite incredible."

"Thank you, truly, Miss Swan," Marcus stepped in, filling in the spot Aro completely ignored. "We will be forever in your debt, as will everyone else who has taken part in this battle today. Therefore, it is only prudent," he gave Caius a warm look. "to offer you a position in the Volturi, if your heart so desires."

I smiled greatly at the dark haired Volturi leader. "Really," I mused. "As a guard, or…"

"Or something more, if you'd like," Caius suggested.

I laughed out loud, the joy of the situation getting the better of me. Moments ago… everything seemed dark and it didn't look like for the briefest second we were going to make it out alive. Now…

Now…

I was finally going to go back to Volterra after all these years.

Just like I promised.

Been working on this chapter all day, so I hope you guys liked it ;) I think Bella deserved to find her power, since 'Breaking Dawn' really doesn't come in this story after the whole Edward incident.

This story will be only a few more chapters until it reaches the end (I'd say 2 or 3), and I haven't completely decided whether or not to make a third book ;) But I probably will.

Please review you guys I'll update faster if you do!