Her eyes snapped open and she shot upright. Immediately she spotted Sulpicia's blank expression.
"It's time."
Chapter 28 – Battle (part 1)
Isabella had expected to feel nervous or scared when the battle arrived. However, right now all she felt was an eerie sense of calm. It did not change when she put on the sturdy sports clothes, nor when she strapped a long knife to her leg and followed her aunt outside. Everyone was already gathered in front of the house and they were speaking amongst each other in hushed voices. Isabella met Jasper's concerned eyes with a steady gaze and gave him a reassuring nod.
Jasper's stance transformed to one of a true leader when he stepped forward to face the crowd. As he started speaking silence fell at once.
"We are gathered here today because we have received message of the arrival of our enemies. The time we have worked towards has come and we will do everything in our power to protect our own."
A sound of agreement rose from the crowd.
Jasper continued. "Whatever you do today, our number one task is to make sure Isabella will not fall into the hands of the enemy. If she is taken, all is lost. We won't be able to fight a battle against the power of one of ours."
He gave out some last instructions, while Marcus led Isabella to a group of the highest ranking Volturi guards. She kissed him on the cheek and hugged him once more before the guards shifted to surround her. Not much later the enormous group, consisting of hybrids and vampires joined the formation. Lastly the shape-shifters, who had decided to face the enemy in their animal forms, concluded their army.
The group moved as one; step by step they made their way through the dense forest towards the open field. They would have the advantage of having the coverage of the trees. Every single person knew the forest as well as the chosen battlefield like the back of their hand. However, they did not know for certain what numbers the enemy would bring, nor did they know what kind of creatures would be participating. They had considered that in their training and they were as prepared as they could ever be.
Everyone was ready for the war to start.
Isabella was still feeling very calm, although she could feel her heartrate rising steadily as they approached the field. The wall of backs in front of her blocked her view, but through the cracks of the moving bodies she soon spotted the opposing army. They were with less than they were, but Isabella expected that it was only a small part of the actual group. It would not surprise her if they would soon be joined by more.
As they walked closer Isabella managed to look through the mass of bodies in front of her. She abruptly came to a stop, her heart skipping a beat. With a bit of guidance from Felix she started to walk on methodically, but her mind was elsewhere. Several hundred feet in front of them stood three people, who were undoubtedly human. They were kept upright forcefully by two vampires each and looked as if they could pass out any moment.
"Charlie?" Isabella choked out with wide eyes. The supernatural creatures surrounding her bristled at her revelation. The wolves growled softly as they too recognized not only Charlie, but Renée and Phil as well.
Everyone came to a halt as a tall, blonde woman stepped forward.
"Give us the girl!" she called, raising her voice for effect only. "Give us the girl and we'll let you go away without any problems. Bring her here and we will give you these three humans."
Isabella tensed and moved forward, wanting to speak to this woman personally. She had barely placed one step when someone grabbed her arm to keep her in place. Confused she looked up, only to gaze into Demetri's concerned eyes. Suddenly Isabella understood why she had been placed near the back of the formation. Not only was it to protect her from any outside attacks for as long as possible; this way she was not able to move away to intervene without the others letting her.
Isabella relaxed her stance, but inside her mind was reeling. Even though she did not want to admit it, she knew that if she had not been held back, she would have tried to save Charlie, Renée and Phil on her own. Preferably by offering herself up and sparing everyone else.
She would have taken the bait they were given.
Never had she been so grateful for her friends. Instead of acting on her instincts, she let the kings and Jasper lead. As representation of their army Aro denied the offer and requested for their true leader to step forward. The woman did not seem fazed at all and stepped back, motioning to the vampires guarding the humans to follow. Isabella made a strangled sound when Charlie groaned out in pain as his body was thrown on the ground.
Off in the distance a new group started to emerge, easily four times the size of the original formation. The noises which some of the unknown creatures made chilled Isabella down to her bones. She started bouncing up and down as she could feel the heavy unease approaching. The ones the ancient vampire had managed to gather were not those of light magic.
In a swift move the guards stepped closer to her, completely blocking her view. She would have to rely on her other senses to understand what was happening from now on.
Looking up at the sky, she could see dark clouds slowly covering the sky. Far off rumbling thunder sounded and drizzling rain fell from the skies. It did not feel or look natural at all and she could not help but wonder how powerful those creatures are.
The Volturi all sighed collectively when the enemy came to a halt. They held their breath and did not dare to move, waiting for what would come next.
"I will ask you just once more: hand over the girl and you will all be free," a deep voice sounded.
Even though Isabella had no visual representation to connect to the voice, she knew this was the one they had been waiting for. It was as though she recognized him, despite having never met. She wiped some of her wet hair out of her face and waited for what would happen next.
Aro stepped forward.
"She is not going anywhere," he calmly stated.
"So be it."
Those words set everything in motion.
Isabella watched as the enemy charged forward. There was absolutely no hesitation in their movements. The Volturi crouched down and braced for the impact, the wolves growling loudly. In the middle of it all Isabella sat, kneeling. She touched the soggy ground with one hand, her head up. Every single step was followed by her eyes.
Lightning struck as the first soldiers clashed. Screams of pain and agitation cut to Isabella's core, but she did not lose her concentration.
The war had started.
Isabella moved with the group of guards which surrounded her. She was overly aware of everything which happened. They shifted again as groups of vampires and werewolves charged at them. Their movements were precise and planned, but so were the Volturi's. The outer ring of guards each took on several creatures.
Isabella watched as Demetri broke off from the group. He was fighting vehemently against a duo of vampires. From that moment on the circle of guards which surrounded her thinned out quickly. While the first assailants were swiftly killed, the new ones were exceptionally more experienced. Although she had known beforehand, she could now clearly see that they were heavily outnumbered. It would not be too long before she too would have to join the fight.
Only Felix was left now, fending off anyone charging at the two of them. His attention was pulled to one side when they were attacked again.
There was no time to prepare as another vampire threw himself at them. Without even a second thought Isabella grabbed him by his arm and threw him over her shoulder. Using all her strength she locked him in a tight grip and frantically looked around for help.
She could not kill.
Within the blink of an eye the vampire's head was severed off his shoulders. Isabella did not have time to thank Demetri as she was charged at again. This time it was a werewolf, its eyes bright purple and smelling repulsive. Its appearance distracted her long enough for it to get a swipe in. Her eyes widened as she felt a burning pain in her arm. Quickly she composed herself with newfound determination. She put her feet steady on the ground.
The creature took another swipe at her, but this time she was prepared. She ducked and used the movement to pull her blade out of her boot. She came back up and had just enough time to slice deep into the wolf's abdomen.
She could maybe not kill, but she could injure.
Isabella knew the wound would heal soon. It would however paralyse the creature for several minutes. Before she could look around and search for someone to finish the job, she was attacked by two others. Her heart raced as she let go of the knife to be able to elbow the first vampire in his face. She turned away just in time as the second one made a grab for her neck. With unnatural speed she jumped up and onto his back. With one swift movement she removed his arms, repressing the nausea at his screams.
Suddenly she was pulled back violently. Strong hands held her down, closing around her throat. Isabella gasped for breath, grasping at the hands, but to no avail. Her heart starting racing even faster; the panic started to truly settle in now.
She knew they had gotten the order not to kill her, but it would be even worse if they managed to take her alive. Isabella frantically looked around as black spots started appearing in her vision. This was not going to end well.
A fierce roar broke through her panicked haze and at once the hands disappeared. Isabella shot up immediately, gasping for air. Her eyes widened as she took in the scene. All creatures within a 300 feet distance lay on the ground, cowering in absolute fear. In the middle of it all stood Jasper.
He looked positively feral as he raced over to Isabella. With one twist of his hands he decapitated the vampire who had been choking her. Jasper span around and checked her over. Slowly his power over the other creatures started to diminish. They groaned and growled before sluggishly crawling back up.
"I'm fine, Jasper," Isabella reassured quickly. She noticed the creatures were rapidly recovering from his outburst.
Jasper nodded once in acceptance before sharply turning around. The werewolf who had tried to attack him from the back was killed without much effort. Jasper looked back at Isabella once more and a silent agreement seemed to be formed. The next attacks they took on together.
Isabella tuned into her natural intuition and used the weak spots of the enemy to her advantage. She grabbed the next vampire, tearing off its arms before throwing the body towards Jasper for him to kill.
The next werewolf was punched in its guts. It roared in pain and threw its body up, swiping at Isabella with its claws. She ducked down and turned away, using the momentum to kick the creature away. With her instincts so in tune she managed to dodge every single move it threw at her until Jasper tore into its neck. Never had she felt so powerful. No longer did she feel the pain from her injuries, the adrenaline in her blood kept her going.
She and Jasper became one fluent team, watching each other's backs. The pile of bodies steadily grew, but the attacks were never ending. If anything, they became harder to ward off. It became nearly impossible for them to keep up, but they had no choice but to keep on moving.
Isabella rolled to the ground as she had to elude yet another attack. Using all her speed to stand back up, she struck the assailant with her fists. She grabbed its arm and sliced her nails into the stone-cold flesh, severing the limb from the body. Vampire's venom was dripping down her entire body now, but it no longer bothered her.
She pushed the screaming vampire into Jasper's direction but noticed her was gone. Her eyes rapidly scanned the field, only to find her was struggling to keep up with his opponent. She did not even think as she sped towards him.
"Jasper!" Isabella shouted desperately. All she could focus on was the pair of teeth nearing his neck. Before she could reach him, she was abruptly tackled to the ground. She kneed the creature in its stomach, but it did not budge. Instead it was able to grab her wrists in an iron grip, effectively blocking them from moving. Isabella kicked around with all her might as she tried to find a weak spot on her opponent's body. It was all to no avail.
A grin spread across the creature's malformed face as he lodged his elbow in her throat.
"There is no use in fighting, girl," he growled lowly.
Isabella had to gasp for breath once more. Rain poured down onto her as she waited for what would come next. Seconds, maybe minutes, went by but there was no one coming to her rescue this time. She focused on the cries and howls around her as she closed her eyes, unable to see because of the lack of oxygen.
Suddenly she fell, her eyes snapping open at once.
"Well, well, well," a deep voice said. "What have we got here?"
A/N: Hello, I'm back with another chapter for you today! It has been a while, sadly I have had to focus on work and studying the past 2 months, but I finally found time to write again. This is the first ever battle I have written and it took me quite a while before I was at least slightly pleased with the outcome. If anyone has any advice on how I can improve my battle-writing skills, they're very welcome :)
Thank you very much to the new followers and also for all the lovely reviews! Please leave another one to let me know what you think of this chapter. I have some extra free time thanks to the Christmas break and plan to spend a lot of it writing, so I'll hopefully be back with part 2 soon!
- Laura
