Chapter 26 Rescue

Bella POV

I couldn't recognize who it was at first; the pain still clouded my senses, but the ferocious growl quickly brought my mind into focus.

He was here. Edward. He took one look at the room and came barreling towards Victoria. She got out of the way in less than a second and Edward's eyes widened as he realized he couldn't stop himself in time from running into me.

The impact broke the chair I was in and we both went flying. Edward caught me in midair, pulling me close and taking the impact with his own body as we crashed into the wall.

Suddenly, Carlisle was beside me, looking me over. I glanced around. Carlisle, Esme, and Edward were by my side. All of them were worried and anxious, though Edward was more furious. Carlisle's demeanor was still calm as always but I'm sure he was just as concerned as Esme was. The only thing that went through my mind at the moment, though, was that Victoria had escaped.

"Where is she?" I hissed.

"Bella, you're hurt. How do you get these chains off?" Edward asked, trying to yank them off.

"I'm fine. Don't bother trying to get those off. I'm guessing they were specifically designed to hold a vampire. Maybe Emmett could-"

"Emmett's busy. Carlisle, can you get them off?"

Carlisle thought for a while and then took something out of his bag. He held up a syringe with a clear liquid inside. He quickly squeezed out a small amount onto the chains and I watched as the liquid dissolved the metal right before my eyes. When the chains were off, I looked at Carlisle.

"You have that in your medical bag?"

He shrugged. "You never know when you need to explain how you broke down a wall to get to the people who were hurt inside."

I blinked a couple times and then shook it off. I tried to get up but Carlisle stopped me, gesturing to my distorted bones.

"Bella, to let your bones heal properly, I'm going to have to-"

"Just do it," I snapped.

He nodded and then swiftly and efficiently broke and reset my bones. The pain flared but I focused my mind and closed my eyes until the pain passed. I refused to waste any more time letting Victoria get away.

I opened my eyes slowly to Esme's and Edward's worried faces. Carlisle was still checking over my wounds.

"Where is she?" I asked again. They glanced at each other. "Where?" I demanded. I looked at them, my eyes settling on Edward.

"She ran away," Edward admitted. "The others are chasing her now."

"I'm going after her."

"No!" Edward yelled. "You are still hurt. You're still recovering. You can't-"

"She killed Charlie," I announced. I was met with silence. "And I'm going to kill her," I announced. I stood up and looked him in the eye. "You can't stop me."

I quickly went to the door when Edward appeared in front of me.

"I'm fine, Edward. You can't-"

"I know, Bella," he said. He held out his hand. "Let's go."

I eyed him warily and then slowly stretched out my hand. When it was a few inches away from his, I hesitated, remembering why I had left in the first place. I closed my hand into a fist and then lowered it.

"Let's go," I said.

I took off, out the door, recognizing Alice's and Jasper's scents and following them. I smelled Emmett and Rosalie a few seconds later. Edward followed beside me. We both ran quickly and silently.

We were running for about a minute, the smells of the others twisting and turning, leading us all over the forest. Edward pulled ahead of me slightly and I looked at him. His eyes met mine and he tilted his head in one direction. We both stopped following the trail and changed directions. We rapidly came upon a clearing and found the others circling Victoria.

The others had just managed to surround her. Emmett took a step forward.

"Stop!" Alice and I both shouted. Everyone glanced at Alice before looking at me, keeping one eye on Victoria.

"This is my fight. Leave her to me," I said, determined to finish this once and for all.

Edward POV

"This is my fight. Leave her to me," Bella said, almost calmly. I could hear the anger underneath the surface and see the fiery determination in her eyes.

Everyone's thoughts were silent, taking all of this in and trying to decide what to do.

Victoria was still crouched in the middle of the clearing. Her thoughts were racing, sizing up all of us and calculating her chances of survival. She kept thinking that if we let her fight Bella, then she'd get to kill her, as if she didn't consider Bella a threat.

I narrowed my eyes at her, infuriated that she could even think that. She even went so far as to plan to use Bella's death as a distraction to escape, killing her and then running off. Her eyes landed on me and then she remembered my power, blocking her thoughts instantly.

I looked at all of the others and nodded. We all stepped back to the edges of the clearing, surrounding the fight area and ready to help Bella if she needed it.

I looked at Bella and said, "Be careful."

She nodded and then took a step forward, towards Victoria.

The fight was on.

Bella POV

I took a step towards her, taking a deep breath and focusing solely on Victoria. We circled each other; she was crouching, but I maintained a calm, almost superior posture, as if she wasn't worth my time. I kept my eyes on her and my face and voice blank, not giving anything away, not even when she started taunting me.

"Well, well, look what we have here," she said in her high soprano voice. I said nothing and she went on. "Looks like the little girl wants to come crying back to take revenge. Too bad she'll never survive long enough to."

"You will die," I said.

She laughed. "You don't stand a chance. Just like your pathetic father."

I heard all the Cullens gasp, except Edward. My heart ached but I didn't let my façade slip. I smiled slightly before I spoke.

"You're right. I never got a chance to fight back. But now I do."

"You think you can actually beat me? I'd like to see you try. You won't put up much of a fight. It was so easy to kill your father, too." She paused, scrutinizing my face; I held up my façade. "You look just like your mother."

I stopped myself from tensing up, but I stood still, no longer circling her. I couldn't trust myself to speak up so I didn't.

"Do you remember her? I'm sure you would just love to see her again."

"You mean how I saw my father?"

She smiled evilly. "Wouldn't you like to know where she moved? Well, I'm afraid it won't be much satisfaction since I you won't be around to enjoy it. Then again, you don't remember your old life anyway."

"Now why do you say that, Victoria? I remember her. And you. And... James." She glared at me. "I used to live with my mom in Phoenix. I was with my dad in Forks at the time, though. There were three of you. You first saw me in the clearing while the Cullens were playing baseball. James wanted me for my blood but the Cullens protected me. James almost got me but the Cullens saved me and killed him." I looked at her calmly. "Did I leave anything out?"

The mention of James' death pushed her over the edge and she lunged at me. I side-stepped at the last possible second and dodged her attack. She crashed into the ground where I was a second ago. I quickly grabbed her arm and twisted it behind her.

"Bad move, Victoria," I hissed in her ear.

She growled and flipped over my shoulder, making me lose my hold. She grabbed my hair and yanked, hard. I held back a scream. I grabbed her hand that was holding my hair and raked my nails across her wrist, breaking through the skin. She roared out in anger.

We circled each other again, more quickly this time. Our eyes locked on each other. We both had one goal in mind. She pounced. Punches were thrown, bodies rolled. I blocked most of her attacks and she managed to evade most of mine.

A couple minutes later, I had lost a couple fingers and she lost an arm. She pulled my fingers off when I couldn't get my arm out of the way fast enough. I took off her arm when she pounced on my back and I flipped her over by her arm, tearing it off after she landed on the ground.

We circled each other again, looking for an opening. She pounced and I found my opening. I leapt a millisecond later, higher than her. When I was above her, she turned over, midair. I kicked my foot into her chest, pushing her to the ground. She crashed, creating a crater in the ground. I quickly took off her other arm and then both her legs. She lay there helplessly in the hole. She growled and snarled and tried to get up but failed miserably and fell back into the hole.

I saw Victoria's other arm on the ground and walked over to it, piling Victoria's other limbs on it. I looked at Alice.

"Start the fire," I said emotionlessly. She looked at me solemnly and nodded, disappearing briefly to collect wood.

When the fire started beside me, I turned back to Victoria, ready for revenge. She had fallen silent and was watching me, pure hatred shining in her eyes.

I looked at her, my face blank and my earlier façade showing again.

"You love pain, don't you, Victoria?" She stayed silent. "Of course you do." My façade dropped and my demeanor changed. I grinned evilly. "I hope you enjoy this next part then."

I bent down and grabbed one of her arms. Keeping my eyes on her, I snapped her upper arm in half and dangled the smaller part over the fire for a second. Victoria's eyes widened. I dropped the first part of her arm into the fire. She screamed as it burned.

I was about to break the elbow off when I saw her other arm crawling towards her slowly. I deliberately stomped on the middle of it, crushing the bone. She screamed in agony.

"Now, now, Victoria. Why are you screaming? I remember that I didn't scream when you broke this bone of mine. Or when you broke it the time after that... and the time after that. Not to mention all my other bones. Now I don't think you want to try that again."

I broke off the elbow of the arm I was holding while still pinning down the other one and threw it into the fire. Victoria screamed out again. I waited until her screams stopped and then threw her hand into the flame. I repeated the process for the arm under my foot. I had just grabbed her leg when Edward caught my arm. He took Victoria's leg from my grip and threw it on the ground.

"What?" I snapped.

He looked at me, concern etched into his eyes. "Bella, stop. This isn't you," he whispered.

"Do you know what she did to me?" I asked. I didn't give him time to answer. I yanked my arm from his grip but then he grabbed both of my arms, pinning them to my sides.

"Bella, listen. I know she deserves it, but this isn't the way."

"I want her to suffer," I said darkly.

"I know. But think of Charlie. Would he want to see you doing this?"

"I want her to suffer," I said again, sadness creeping into my tone. "I want to hurt her for what she did." I let out a sob. "She hurt me. She hurt Charlie."

I was overcome with sobs. I turned and buried my head in Edward's chest. He wrapped his arms around me and held me close. I sobbed quietly for a while. I could feel Jasper trying to help but I pushed his power away.

"So do you still want to do the honors?" Emmett whispered. Rosalie slapped him. "Ow!" She gave him a look and he quieted down.

I stopped crying and turned towards Victoria. It's time to end it. I walked over to her and looked at her pitifully.

"Say goodbye, Victoria." I bent my head down and tore off her neck. I quickly gathered the rest of her body parts and threw them into the fire. I stared at the flames, watching it burn until the smoke thinned and disappeared.

Alice and Rosalie came and both wrapped an arm around my waist.

"Come on. It's time to go home," Alice said.

I nodded and let her lead me away.

A/N: That was really tough to write. Hope you liked it! Review please!