I wondered through the dimly lit corridors, searching for my death. I'd come so close before, but this time, it felt final. I'd seen it in a dream; I would die here, tonight. The good thing about that was that no-one else had to.
I located the stairs and walked up, trying to tread silently. At the top of the stairs was a giant dinosaur replica. I saw no additional light as I walked around, so I continued up the stairs, opposite the first flight.
I looked around at all the glass cabinets. Egyptian artefacts, mummies and golden masks filled every one of them. I saw a flicker of light from down a dark corridor, so I shakily walked down. I came out in a room, dummies lined the walls. Their arms had all been moved so they were pointing in one direction. I followed their point.
A long, tall glass cabinet acted as a wall to another room. They pointed at the centre of the glass, and X had been drawn on. My breathing sped even more and I backed away from the glass. I turned around, but moved no further. The dummies arms had dropped. I shook my head and whipped back towards the X. It was a mistake. Their arms had been positioned again to point at the corridor I came in from. A shadow blocked the doorway. I backed away until I felt my back press against the cold glass.
"X marks the spot." Dominique sneered before lunging at me.
(Seth p.o.v.)
"Bella!" I shouted quietly at the window. I threw a couple of small pebbles and shouted again. There was no reply.
Where was she? I ran around to the front of the house and tried to open the door. It was locked. I grunted in frustration. I opened the letter box and semi shouted;
"Bella! It's Seth. Come on!"
I was afraid I would wake Charlie if I shouted any louder, but there was still no reply. There was no sound of movement either from behind the door. I sighed in annoyance and tried once more.
"Bella! Come on! We have to hurry or we won't make it in-"
The door abruptly opened.
"Seth, what are you doing?" Charlie asked, amused. He was trying to fight a smile and failing to do so. "We have a bell you know."
I would have laughed, but there were more serious things at hand.
"Charlie, where's Bella?"
"She's sleeping over at the Cullen's place." He said with disapproval dripping from his words. "She said it was with Alice, but she I still haven't worked out…"
"Thanks Charlie!" I shouted as I ran, already on the road. I bolted for the trees, my body wracked with trembles.
Hot fire erupted inside of me and then I was flying.
Anyone there? This is urgent! I thought
What is it Seth? Sam's voice answered.
I could sense Embrys' presence too. Is it Jake? He asked worriedly.
No, worse, Bella's gone-
Is there danger to human lives? Sam questioned.
I sighed. Yes. Just meet me at the Cullen's place in two minutes.
I reached the big white house first, only 4 minutes past 12. I bounded up the steps and thumped on the door, having transformed and put shorts on mere seconds ago.
Esme opened the door and smiled.
"Seth, how lovely to see-"
"I'm sorry Esme, this is urgent, is Bella here?"
Edward appeared at her side in an instant.
"No, she said she'd gone to visit Jacob" Edward spoke almost too fast to understand.
"She told Charlie she was sleeping here."
"What's going on Seth, where is she." Edward said in a deathly voice.
"She's been lying all long. It's Dominique, she's going to Dominique, he threatened to kill someone if she didn't. Someone she loved." I ignored the surge of the bracelet as I drained my energy, but I fought on, growing more tired every second. My sentences became words and my words became pants as the bracelet punished me for breaking my word. I tried to pull it off, but the chain was too strong. It didn't matter though; Bella would know I broke our promise. It was too late to give up now, so I forced the last few words out of me.
"The museum in Seattle. She's there. They wanted the jewelry for something. Go now."
"Let's go!" Edward pushed past me out of the door.
The others, who had quickly gathered when the heard something was wrong, followed. Carlisle and Esme stood in the doorway.
"Esme, stay here. Take care of Seth, help him recover and keep an eye on Angela. We'll be back soon."
"I can't just watch you go. There's danger? What if one of you gets hurt?" Esme asked, on the verge of crying.
My eyes were slowly shutting now, sleep was almost with me.
"We'll be fine love. There are only three of them and two are newborns. And…"
He looked at me. "The pack doesn't have to be involved in this, we can handle it."
"Yes we do." Sam spoke, in his human form. "There is danger to human life. If we did not respond to this, we would not be fulfilling our duty. We're involved."
Carlisle looked back at Esme. "And we have the wolves on our side." He finished his sentence.
"Ok," Esme held onto the front of Carlisle's shirt. "Bring my babies home."
Carlisle leaned in and kissed her lips. Carlisle pulled away after a few seconds and walked down the steps. Esme wrapped her arms around herself and watched as her mate and children drove of into the darkness to save her newest daughter.
"Please let her be ok." She whispered before watching my pack leave and then helping me to the couch where I collapsed and let myself sleep.
(Bella p.o.v.)
The glass smashed and I landed in the shards. I felt my skin tear and smelt blood as it seeped from my wounds.
"Ah!" I winced as I tried to get up.
Dominique, Lauren and Tyler gathered in front of me.
"Have you got them?" Lauren asked.
I became aware of the bag I was clutching tightly in my left hand. I attempted to throw them but they didn't lift 2 feet off the floor, despite that, Lauren caught them. She opened the bag and took out the ring, pulling onto her finger in the next second, yet doing it slowly at the same time, like she was savouring the moment. I edged back; sensing danger was not far ahead. As she put the ring on, an aura of light seemed to pulsate around her, but there was nothing visible to see. The ring looked like it was pulling energy in. what had I just handed over?
She looked up, a snide expression on her face.
"Do you have any idea what you've just done?"
She stepped forward and looked at me on the floor. My breath rattled. A clock chimed outside. The chimes brought the atmosphere to a new thickness. After the twelfth 'DONG', I realised Seth would be at Charlie's house by now. He would know I'd left already. He'd be racing to tell Edward I was in danger.
I shakily took in some air and shook my head. I didn't know what I'd handed over and I would probably regret it for the rest of my life, not that it go on for much longer. Lauren leaned in so our faces were inches apart.
"You've just killed everyone you love. Everyone you like. Everyone who so much as made a nice gesture to you." She stood up and scoffed. "Did you really think I'd let those repulsive Cullen's get away with embarrassing me like that?"
It took me a few seconds to understand what she was talking about. Mine and Edwards's engagement party. That seemed like a lifetime ago, but I remember Edward telling me once that vampire could hold a grudge for hundreds of years, a couple of months were nothing compared.
"This ring, it's special. Not the only one of its kind, but very rare. It enhances powers."
I gasped.
"Didn't you ever wonder why you were so willing to comply, be my friend and feel sympathy for me when I'd just threatened everyone you held close?
I can persuade. It only works on you pathetic, insignificant humans, but now, thanks to this, now I have control over every human, vampire or mutt that I come across. And starting with your little clan of inbreeds, I will make everyone pay who made me feel anything but like the goddess I am!"
"Except," Dominique yanked Laurens arms behind her back and slipped the ring off her finger, "the ring is mine. Revenge on the Cullen's; that's what I promised you. Nothing else."
He pushed her away and she stood silently. Fury was written across her face, but she did not act. Her eyes held something else. There was anger, hurt, bloodlust, envy, but also fear. She seemed to be holding herself back as the ring got closer and closer to his finger. She stepped back, crushing the shards of glass into harmless dust underneath her feet and took hold of Tyler's hand.
The ring slid onto his finger and several things happened at once. I began to shake, out of fear, or pain, I couldn't work out. Tears spilled from my eyes. The bracelet on my wrist felt like it was vibrating. It hot hotter and hotter against my skin until it snapped. So Seth had told. They would be coming here now, racing towards the fight they would not walk away from. And I knew because I'd seen it before. I had seen how this night would end. I had seen the pain and the death which would happen soon, but my mind was only vaguely aware of the tears in my eyes and my ragged breathing and the heat from the bracelet on the floor because before my eyes was the thing I had wished not to be true. Dominique was replicating himself. Dozens of red-headed monsters stood, all grinning the same, wicked way. Suddenly, all I could see and hear was upcoming the screams and death of my family.
(Rosalie p.o.v.)
We arrived in front of the museum. Edward didn't pause for a second before practically ripping the car door off its hinges and running into the open doors of the building. Jasper, Alice and Carlisle followed and Emmett was about to, but he held me back. I heard Alice scream and Edward shout;
"Bella! Don't hurt her."
I looked into Emmett's eyes.
"Please be careful, I love you." he said softly. "I don't want a repeat of last time."
I smiled weakly, kissed him, then grabbed his hand and pulled him towards thee museum. We followed the scents of the others, which lead us to the second floor.
I gasped as we reached the scene and growled not a second later. I processed the scene.
At the centre of the attention was Dominique. He had Bella in his arms; his hand was around her neck. Tears streamed from her eyes and she gasped for air, trying to breath. Edward had one arm reached out, leaning forward, he looked like he was about to run forward, but something in Dominique's mind must have advised him otherwise. His face was distraught. He was in risk of loosing his true love. I was in risk of loosing a sister. A hiss erupted through my lips.
"Whatever you want, just let her go." Edward bargained.
Dominique laughed.
"No. see I like the deal where you do whatever I say and in return, I might let her live." He buried his face in Bella's hair. "Tell him Bella. Tell him to do what I say."
Bella was attempting to shake her head. I could see his grip tightening on her. I took a step forward. "No," Bella managed to wheeze out. "Run! He's got clo… clones. Run!"
My eyes shot to Jasper, as did my families, all but Edward. He physically stiffened.
"You had to go and ruin it didn't you!" Dominique shouted at an almost unconscious Bella. She could barely breathe. "pathetic." He sneered, before throwing her across the room.
"No!" I screamed with Alice and Emmett. "Bella!" Edward and Carlisle shouted.
But Jasper was not fully concentrating on Bella. In his eyes, it was obvious he wanted to scream too and his face was showing distress for her, but his dominant feature was anger and agony for what was happening in front of our eyes was not something we could walk away from.
Dominique had spread his arms open and before we could move to help Bella, or save someone we loved, we were restrained by several pairs of arms. I looked around, desperate to make sure Emmett was ok. He was, but we were quickly pulled apart and away from each other. I had never seen anything so surreal. Around the room were 26 replicas of Dominique. His smug smile was plastered onto everyone on of their identical faces. Their bright red hair seemed to put the room alight with fire. Self preservation was automatically triggered in my mind and I focused on finding a way to defeat them.
The clones were only part of Dominique, so they couldn't be as strong as the real thing – that would be why three of them were surrounding me now. They would have his mind though - they'd know how to fight, how to kill. It was just the matter of having the strength to do it and a few of them together could easily have my head off in less than a minute. But if I teamed up with someone, we could watch each others backs. We would have more chance then.
It had only been a second since Bella had been thrown. She flew into a glass cabinet, shattering the glass and landing in the jagged shards. I saw her shudder and let out a whimper of pain.
Her pain seemed to be the catalyst in my family's strength. I screamed as I pulled away from my restrainers and broke free of the binding hands. Bella sucked in a sharp breath at the same time her blood reached me. We had to be fast. She didn't have much time left, but none of us could get to her. We were all fighting for our lives and even if we got past the clones, we had to battle Lauren, Tyler and the real Dominique.
But my first priority was keeping myself alive. A clone tried to grab both my arms, but I kicked backwards and made him bend in pain. Another came at me from the front. He was too fast and had his hands around my throat in an instant, but I was quick to do the same. We held onto each other whilst trying to get free, grunting and twisting in ways that would be painful if I was still human. Out of the corner of my eye, I saw the clone I kicked in the stomach pull himself up and launch his body at me. I sucked in a sharp breath in panic. The clones' fist was heading straight for my heart. Faster than I had ever moved, I span us around so I was not in the path of the first clone, but the second clone (the one who had his hands wrapped around my throat) was. I felt his first go through the body of the second and his hands suddenly disappeared from around my throat. The first clone was momentarily distracted about killing his…brother? I took advantage of his mistake and had my teeth at his neck in an instant. I got a firm grip with my hands and pulled…
I scanned the scene to find out what position everyone else was in. Jasper and Emmett had already killed two clones each and were battling with more.
Carlisle and Edward had worked their way so they were back to back and fighting off a group of six clones.
I searched for Alice and saw her loosing a fight with three Dominique's.
"Ah!" she grunted as one of them pulled on her arm.
I started towards her, but was instantly stopped by another two clones.
"God!" I shouted and tried to dodge around them to no avail.
I punched and kicked and bit and pulled as much as I could, but I never seemed to be doing much damage. I was, once again grabbed and restrained. I managed to shake him off, but another latched onto me. Jasper and Emmett were struggling with the huge group attacking them and Edward and Carlisle weren't doing so good either. I saw Alice fall to her knees and a clone put his hands around her neck…prepared to pull…
"Alice, No!" Jasper cried.
He fought harder now, swiping, grabbing and killing a clone in the next second, but more were set upon him and he was completely surrounded. It looked like this was the end. I heard Bella's heart struggling to carry on beating. For all of us then. We will all die tonight.
Suddenly, out of nowhere, the wolves appeared and growled in chorus. The black wolf jumped on the clone about to kill Alice and the rest launched themselves into battle. I heard Jasper let out a sigh of relief as Alice regained herself with Sam at her side.
A chocolate brown wolf – Quil and a silver wolf – Paul, flanked me as we ran, head on into clones running at us…
We destroyed them quickly and went on to help the others. Even with the wolves, Edward and Carlisle, Emmett and Jasper seemed to be struggling with the fight. Dominique just kept cloning and cloning himself. We could never win. Not with him still alive. I met Alice's gaze and something in her eyes told me we were on the same page. We motioned for the wolves at our sides to run ahead and clear our path. They were thwarted by a gathering of clones and pounced right on them. Alice and I ran straight past them, dodging the arms that reached out to trap us.
"On three." Alice said. I nodded.
We emerged from the pack of clones and sprang.
"Three." I said breathlessly.
We landed on a stunned, unsuspecting Dominique.
"Two." Alice said.
I pinned his arms behind his back and Alice grabbed his neck.
"Three!" we shouted together.
Alice pulled and I was pulled off Dominique by Tyler, but it was too late. Dominique was dead. His decapitated body collapsed onto the floor. The clones dissolved into the air, as if they were made of dust and the wind blew them away in a dusty cloud.
I was still aware of Tyler's grip on my arms as they tightened.
"Argh!" I moaned.
Abruptly, they fell loose and I heard Tyler's body drop. Emmett threw a round object to the floor and hugged me.
"No!" Lauren cried.
She ran towards us, but was taken out by russet wolf, who ripped her apart before he touched the floor. He landed neatly and his head shot towards Bella, who was being checked over by Carlisle while Edward whispered; "sorry", over and over again.
"Jacob." Chorused around the room.
He looked taken back when he saw Bella on the floor. He ran out of the room and was gone.
Bella was now facing towards the room. How long had she been that way? Had she seen us fighting? Had she seen the russet wolf kill her old classmate?
Jacob came running back into the room, now in his human form. He looked uneasy on his feet – as though he would fall any minute.
He bolted straight past us towards Bella and knelt down by her side. We all followed to see our dying sister.
"J-Jake." Bella forced out. She winced in pain. "You came back."
She tried to smile, but ended up crying.
"I'm gl- glad I got to see you one last t-t-ime. Before I died."
She moved her hands slowly and rested them over Edwards and Jacobs, which were holding onto her face and shoulder.
"At least now I know…" she paused and adjusted to the pain. "That you're both safe." A tear slipped from her eye. "I love you…both…so much."
"I love you too bells." Jacob whispered.
"You're not going to die Bella, you're going to be fine." Edward said. He looked into her eyes.
She shook her head ever so slightly. "It's too l-late. I love y-ou."
Her heart thumped one last time then stopped. Edwards's eyes widened.
"No!"
Jacobs's hands were on her chest, already pumping. "Stay with me Bella. Stay with Edward."
Her heart started again, but her eyed did not open, but it was all Edward needed. He bent down to her throat, opened his mouth and bit...
Hope the climax was big enough!
It's almost over now!!! Only 2 more chapters to go.
:D