I apologize for the short chapter. It was hell writing it, and in the end I shaved off an easy 1,000 words to it. Crazy but I think it reads better. For some reason EPOV are always shorter than BPOV.

Disclaimer: Twilight and all characters belong to Stephenie Meyer. All publicly recognizable characters, settings, etc. are the property of their respective owners. No copyright infringement is intended.

If I'm incorrect in crediting the songs it is by mistake. It's what's in my iPod, folks.

Warning: contains topics of rape, torture, abuse, and religion. If these things offend read another story.

I will battle for the sun
And I won't stop until I'm done
You are getting in the way
And I have nothing left to say

"Battle for the Sun" by Placebo

EPOV

Somebody was out there. The silence of the night was heavy, and the fucking hairs on the back of my neck were standing on end as I felt someone watching me. I struggled to see past the line where the light from the porch met the darkness of the forest. I gave Leah enough leash to do her business, but there was no way I would let her free with the threat so close to home. She seemed anxious, her ears on occasion would twitch and swivel, following sounds unheard by me.

A cloud of smoke drifted before me, bringing my attention to Jasper. "I thought you quit," I said, nodding to the cigarette hanging out of his mouth.

"Yeah, Alice hates the fucking smell, but I'm feelin' a bit tense," he said while flicking ash from the butt. Esme would kill him if he tossed that butt in her yard.

I nodded my head because he wasn't the only one who felt the tension that had invaded our house. Bella was most affected by it. Most nights she couldn't sleep and when she could, it was restless. There weren't any night terrors to jolt me awake, only tiny whimpers that tickled me into awareness. All I could do was hum us to sleep, only to be awakened when the dreams returned.

I pulled on Leah's leash, but she wouldn't budge. Instead, she gave a low growl, but for once it wasn't directed at me. No, her focus was on the tree line that surrounded the property. Jasper and I trading knowing looks and he snubbed out his cigarette before following me into the house. He had to help me with Leah because she was fighting the leash and barking at whatever was concealed by the trees.

As we struggled with the fifty pound snow dog, I heard Bella talking about making dinner. Not wanting to bring attention to what was lurking outside, I suggested the first dish I could think of. Leah's behavior didn't go unnoticed, spurring Dean to quietly slip outside and Emmett to signal to Rose to take Bella away.

One of the first things Dean did when he got here was create a contingency plan to get Bella to safety. Unfortunately, to get Bella to the panic room in Carlisle's office, she would have to cross the living room. The pantry would have to do; a pantry with a large oak door recently fitted with a lock from the inside.

Once Rose tugged Bella out of the room, Emmett then nodded to Jasper. As Jasper turned to go upstairs, there was a loud pop that drowned out the sound of glass shattering from one of the many living room windows. Instinctively I ducked down and turned to look at each family member, frantic with what the sound meant. Esme answered my unvoiced question when she shrieked my brother's name.

My eyes darted to where Emmett stood near the piano, clutching his side. His eyes were wide in disbelief and my attention was drawn to the blood that was pouring between his fingers. He staggered back, losing his battle with gravity as he fell to the ground.

I fought against the urge to run to where I knew Rose was hiding Bella, but I could not risk her being found. Carlisle came rushing out of his office as I held onto Esme, putting my body between her and the windows. Esme's body trembled, torn between going to her fallen son and staying with me.

Before Carlisle could reach Emmett, the back door swung open, and the sick bastard who caused the chaos walked in, aiming his gun at Carlisle. "Not another move."

Demetri was tall, lanky, and nothing what I had expected. This was the bastard responsible for the misery that Bella experienced in Seattle. Most of her suffering and torment was caused by this scrawny motherfucker who somehow felled one of the strongest men I had ever known.

"Please, just let me make sure he's alright," Carlisle pleaded, as he looked at Emmett.

Jasper quickly darted to Alice, ignoring Demetri's words. Jasper would have taken her away but Demetri turned his gun on him while he said to Carlisle, "I shot him for a fucking reason. Now, you're going to slowly walk over there next to your wife. Nobody else has to get hurt—I just came for the whore."

"She's not a whore!" Alice shouted while Carlisle slowly rounded Emmett's sprawled figure to join me and Esme. His eyes never left Emmett. I could tell Carlisle wasn't looking at him like a father would. No, he was assessing Em's injuries as best he could, monitoring breathing and blood loss and waiting for the second he could go to Emmett.

"Alice," Jasper hissed.

I wasn't the only one who didn't like that Alice drew Demetri's attention. Jasper slowly dragged her behind his body, taking her out of Demetri's line of fire.

Leah whined from under the piano. Her head was low and her tail was tucked between her legs. Demetri looked over his right shoulder, snorted in mockery, and didn't spare her a second glance as he turned back to us.

He laughed. "Of course she's a whore. You think by dressing her up and giving her an education, it will change anything?"

My fists clenched and I prayed that Bella wasn't hearing what this pathetic piece of shit was saying. Bella was never a whore, nor was she a victim. She took the deplorable situation that she was thrust into and survived it. She escaped him and Seattle, and I'd be damned if I was going to hand her back. "You can't have her."

"Oh? Tell me, pretty boy, who's going to stop me?" he sneered.

"We won't let you walk out of here with Bella," Esme said in a cool voice. "You'd have to kill me before I'd let you take her."

"Is that so? Perhaps I haven't shot enough of your children to convince you that I'm not fucking around," Demetri said as he aimed the gun at my chest and pulled the trigger.

He shouldn't have underestimated Leah.

I may have not been Leah's favorite person, but I was still Bella's. And that meant something to Leah. As soon as Demetri shifted his aim to me, her police training kicked in and she lunged at him, tearing into the flesh on his arm and shaking his scrawny body like a rag doll. Thanks to Leah, the bullet only clipped my shoulder.

I barely registered the pain as I watched her muzzle stain with blood, the fabric of his jacket offered little protection from her sharp teeth.

"Get the women out, Jasper," Carlisle said as he quickly assessed my arm. I could tell he wanted to go to Emmett, but Leah was too close and she was in a frenzy, mauling Demetri.

I smiled when I heard his screams, and in a sick way I hoped Bella heard them and knew that it was Demetri in pain. Fucker deserved it and more.

I noticed the revolver had been knocked from Demetri's hand, and he was making a move to get it. However, he lost his footing and Leah viciously bit and yanked any body part she could reach. Just when it looked like he was about to get his hands on his weapon, gunfire sounded in the living room.

Emmett shot Demetri in the back of the head while Dean emptied his clip into Demetri's torso from the back door, blood dripping from his head as he said, "That's how you do it, asshole."

As soon as the shots sounded, Leah yelped and darted to my side. I held her shaking body and told her what a good job she did. The former police officer calmed slightly, but with Demetri's body still in sight she was understandably still on alert.

"You got him?" Dean asked Em, holding the side of his head.

"Fucker isn't going anywhere, unless he's impervious to bullets," Emmett said, but I noticed he didn't take his gaze off of Demetri's dead body. "Rosie, it's over, but just stay put until somebody comes for you!"

Carlisle ran to the kitchen for some towels. He tossed one each to me and Dean and said, "Edward, I need you to go to my study and get my bag. Dean, I trust you called the authorities."

"Yes, sir. ETA is five minutes," I heard Dean say as I rushed to find Carlisle's medical bag.

I returned to find Carlisle had ripped Emmett's shirt open and was pressing a towel to Emmett's side. "The bullet is still inside," Carlisle said, before finding a vial of liquid and a syringe in his medical bag. "I need you to press hard on that towel, Edward." He turned to the Marine and said, "Dean, how badly have you been injured?"

"Bullet only grazed my temple. Should be fine," he responded. "Worry about Cujo."

"Em, how're you feeling?"

Emmett turned to me, stunned and said, "I can't believe that asshole shot me."

~C~C~C~

"It's nice to see she hasn't lost her touch."

I looked over Bella's head and noticed a police officer walking in our direction from the house. I had Bella in my arms as I stood in the drive way, Leah by our side. The EMS had just left with Emmett, Dean, and my father; Esme and Rose had left, following them; and we were waiting for the police to finish questioning Alice and Jasper before we would join them.

"Hello, Officer Noma. I wish I could say it's nice to see you again… but… well," Bella mumbled while waving a hand at the flurry of activity.

He nodded his head and said, "Please call me Benjamin." He crouched next to Leah and gave her a scratch behind her ears. I was glad we wiped the blood from her muzzle.

"Are you going to take her away?" Bella asked softly. Benjamin tilted his head to the side and asked why he would. "Because she attacked a person."

"Did she do so unprovoked?"

"No, sir. It wasn't until Demetri pointed the gun at me that she went after him," I answered. Bella gasped, her eyes going to my bandaged arm. I kissed her forehead and murmured, "Everything's okay, now."

"Then she did what she was trained to do, what we trained her to do—she got the bad guy. Your statements were taken, correct?" We both nodded our heads. "Good. If you need anything, give me a call."

As he handed Bella a card with his contact info, she said, "Actually we have to go to the hospital, but I can't leave Leah here. Do you think… maybe…"

Understanding flickered across his face and he said with a smile, "My kids would love to see her again. I think there's a steak at home with her name on it."

"A steak?"

Leah's ears perked up, like she actually knew what that word meant.

"She's earned it. Don't you think?"

Bella looked at me with a sad smile and said, "Yes. Yes, she has."

~C~C~C~

Three weeks had passed since the break-in. Dean left a couple of days after everything happened, said he did what he came to do. I was never really sure where he stayed, be it at a motel or with us. He was always just there.

If he was staying with us, it was probably a good thing he left. Even though the police said it was fine to stay at the house, Carlisle and Esme decided they wanted to move. They felt we all needed a fresh start.

So, the whole family moved into the house I was living in until another could be found. Esme didn't want to leave Forks entirely because she still had the women's center and it was the same for Carlisle and the hospital.

Despite the limited space, we went through our days, getting our lives back to how they used to be. The nights, however, were a different story.

Bella's tiny, troubled whimpers turned to screams and thrashing until she startled awake.

A coffee mug was set next to me, and I looked up at the person joining me at the counter.

"You look tired, little brother."

"Hey, Em. How're you feeling?"

"Good. Stitches come out today."

I nodded my head.

The bullet that Emmett took in his side was actually lodged in his oblique when the doctor pulled it out. The first time he saw Bella after being shot, she started crying. He told her not to worry because he had abs of steel.

He was lucky. If he wasn't so fit or if Demetri was at a closer range, the bullet could have ripped through his intestines.

"Last night sounded like a bad one," he commented before taking a sip of his coffee.

Sighing, I said, "She tries to stay awake, but after a couple of days she has no choice."

"The shrink isn't helping? I thought she was working with Bella. Can't she give Bella something to help her sleep?"

"She did. Bella still has the nightmares, only it takes longer to wake her up."

"Shit," he said. His brow furrowed and he asked, "Does she tell you what they're about?"

I shook my head. "No, but she talks in her sleep. I think they're about Demetri. Sometimes he makes her watch as he kills everybody. Sometimes he makes us watch as he rapes her before he takes her away." My jaw clenched and my eyes blurred. I didn't tell him there were worse ones than those.

"Christ," he muttered.

He gave me a moment to gather myself by looking at the digital clock on the stove. It was five in the morning, and I wondered if anybody else was awakened by Bella's sleep. Bella herself was taking a bath with Leah standing guard. That dog rarely left her side.

"How badly do you want to help her, Edward?"

I thought about my angel and how wrong I was, believing Demetri's death would bring her any kind of peace. She tried, she really fucking tried. She went to therapy with Carmen, finished taking her GEDs, and still worked everyday with Laurent, but she was slowly withering away. I felt utterly useless as I watched the spark in her slowly die.

"What did you have in mind, Em?"

He took a deep breath and said, "Maybe she's waiting for the other shoe to drop. Maybe if she heard from the boys that there was no way anybody else would come for her—"

"No," I said, cutting him off. "I don't want to know what they did, and I don't want her involved. For fuck's sake, Emmett. If they did what I think they did, and told Bella, that would make her an accessory."

Emmett stood to leave but not before saying, "She deserves to not be afraid, Edward. She can't live a life where she's constantly looking over her shoulder."

Emmett left me to my thoughts. Not surprisingly they were focused on my angel. Her appearance had changed over the last three weeks. The healthy weight Bella had put on since coming to Forks was slowly melting away, and the beauty of her eyes was detracted by the dark circles under them.

Her lack of sleep was effecting more than her appearance. I was starting to feel a strain on our relationship. Not that I had any intentions of abandoning her—it was the nightmare.

The nightmare where she woke up screaming, "No, Edward won't want me!"

I couldn't stop the tears from falling that first night as I tried to rock her back to sleep. I would never not want Bella. I hated that there was a tiny little part of her that believed otherwise.

She was my everything.

I left the kitchen and made my way to my office. It had been converted to a bedroom, and when Emmett answered my knock, I said, "Make the call."

A/N: No more than three chapters left, so I want to thank you for hanging on. You guys are amazing!