Author's Note: How is everyone doing this holiday season? I've been swamped at work. Being in retail this time of year is killer, specially when they make me come in on my days off. Which is why this took longer than I wanted. But I have some good news! We're getting close to the end! I imagine only a couple more chapters left, with perhaps an epilogue. Thank you all again for your patience, and I hope you like the last leg of the ride!
Playlist highlights for this chapter:
Night of the Hunter (Static Revenger Rock Redux) by 30 Seconds to Mars
Young and Beautiful by Lana Del Rey
I was so wrapped up in comforting her that I didn't hear the others appear. When I saw them, I grimaced. Alice and Jasper were being held by James, Riley, and Victoria. Billy looked a little distraught at the sight, his mind displaying old memories of Sam and Jacob playing in the sandbox or practicing football together. Jane was simply excited. However, she gave a reserved look. No doubt, she was waiting to see the effects of the blood on Bella.
"Bella…" I whispered, trying to ignore everyone else as she sobbed openly in my arms. "Are you feeling alright? Please, talk to me…"
She whimpered, trembling in my hold for a handful of seconds before snapping her head upwards, glaring at Jane. "You did this to me-!" she growled, a scowl appearing as her eyes became obsidian again.
Following her gaze, I could only see Jane's smile widen. If she was a human, I'd consider her one hell of a brat.
"You'll thank me once that heart of yours stops," she said like it was fact. My eyes widened.
Isabella is turning, Alice confirmed. I knew this. I felt it. But hearing Jane speak it like that…oh, how I wanted to shred her into pieces and watch them burn! All of them! I can't tell how long she has…but we need to get her out of here. I see them forcing her to do terrible things. Edward…they're going to make her kill you!
The impaling image I saw before now made sense. They were going to do something, say something to make her turn against me? But we were mates! That couldn't happen!
"Never," Bella countered, growing still in my embrace. "Edward, let go of me."
Something didn't feel right about this. The anger she was emitting was powerful. Was it the blood she now consumed? Was it doing something to her? I listened to her, with much reluctance. My arms retracted and we both stood. Taking a few steps forward, I fell behind her as she approached the others. I was torn between wanting to shove her behind me to protect her, and see just how powerful she had become.
"Why so angry, little dove?" Jane asked, looking completely disinterested in conversation. "I have given you a gift. A very powerful, important gift. And you are going to use it to dispose of a few beings I'd rather not deal with anymore," she explained.
She wants to bring down the Volturi?! Alice's mind screamed. Jasper's, although still hazy, seemed to confirm it as well.
So, she was conspiring with the wolves, our natural enemy, to destroy the Volturi?
"What makes you think I'd do anything for you!" Bella asked, her hands clenching at her sides. My eyes darted between our friends and the side of her face. She was fierce and terrifying. Newly fed and that blood was making her strong. I could feel it coursing through her, molding with her own blood. Changing it.
Billy smirked then, making me hiss.
"Because, if you don't, all your friends here will be torn apart. Simple as that," Jane explained, waving one of her small hands across her chest.
"Bullshit!" I called out this time. "You want to kill us all anyway!"
Not a second later, that pain cut through my head again and I suddenly found myself on my knees. I could feel all their eyes on me, laughter in their gazes.
"I find this humorous. Do you know why, Isabella?"
Bella didn't answer. I was in too much pain to focus on what was happening, but it seemed she was too distracted to numb me like before. Good God, this hurt!
"All he wanted from you was food. You were just his meal ticket. Yet you think you're in love with him and he loves you back. You believe that you two are mates?" Her childish laughter made me sick on top of the throbbing pain I was feeling. I was too frozen to refute anything. "What a preposterous belief. I can smell bonds, and yours is false. I have to admit that he did keep you distracted well enough, with that pretty face and deep eyes, didn't he?"
"You lie," I finally spat, feeling another wave of anguish as soon as the last syllable left me.
From the blur of my vision, I could see Bella standing beside me, still as a statue. I thought I could almost hear Alice trying to reach me with her mind, but nothing clear came through. The pain was reverberating everywhere inside of me, blocking and muffling everything else.
"Do I? Weren't you the one that put this creature in the hospital? Because you simply couldn't contain yourself enough to seal the bond? Please, don't try and cover that any longer."
"Nnngh…you know nothing….!" I growled, my hands shoving me from the floor as the pain was crushing me.
"How about the fact that he never told you that Charlie is dead?" Billy added. That was when I heard Bella react. She gasped sharply.
"That's because you-!" I tried to cry out, but was stopped by the screams of agony burning through my vocal chords.
I wished Alice would speak up. Defend me somehow. But she was just as silent. Were they forcing her to be quiet? Damn it!
I could smell tears in the air, which shattered my very soul if I had one. This was not how I wanted Bella to find out. I couldn't even properly soothe her. My knees pressed into the tile floor so hard that it cracked beneath me while I used what was left of my strength to lift myself upwards.
"Isabella, don't lower yourself to a selfish nomad. Be among civilized beings. We can provide you with wealth. With power and prestige. Work for me, for our kind, and I assure you that they will not be harmed. I'll even let them go."
I knew she was lying. Even with her convincing tone, I knew she planned on disposing of us. Billy's smile faltered as silence filled the hall. It was then that I felt the pain lift. Heaving, I returned to my feet, leaning against the wall for support like the wind had been knocked out of me. When my vision cleared, I turned to Bella, watching in awe as she simply stood there. The tears were fresh, running down her face and turning crimson as it mixed with the drying blood on her chin.
"You…you did this…to me!" she screamed at the top of her lungs. Everything – and I mean everything – shook. Even seemed surprised as the lights above began to fall, smashing into the floor and shattering all the glass around us. There was an explosive amount of power coming from my mate, and for a second, I thought she was going to completely lose herself to whatever was happening within.
Right as I attempted to reach her, there was a shockwave, which slammed into me hard enough to throw me through what felt like four different rooms. I heard screams. I heard things crumble. The building was shaking down to its foundation below us.
Then, there was silence.
Even for my ears, everything was dull. My eyes actually hurt when I opened them, the pressure having cracked parts of my chest and face. I didn't care about that; my body would heal in time. Instead, I fought through the pile of rubble above me, throwing it all over like it was sand as I tried to get free. "Isabella-!" My throat was sore, my voice hoarse as I tried to call out to my love, wherever she was.
Dust was falling all over the place, coating the debris of what remained in an eerie ashen shade of snow.
There was some movement in the distance, immediately catching my gaze as I tried to decipher through the dusty fog who it was. Breathing, although not necessary, was still a bitch as I tried to move.
I could hear a faint heartbeat nearby, distracting me away from the movement ahead as I veered to my side. I knew that sound. My own personal lullaby.
Please, let her be alive. Please, don't take her.
Not her.
Never her.
I smelled her blood, which made my venom pool in my mouth with intensity. I didn't care. I would never bring myself to taste her that way again. Clawing my way through the rubble, I could see some peaked skin appearing underneath. There was more movement around us, and I thought I could hear Alice. Or maybe it was someone else? My focus was on my mate.
As I brushed away the stone and concrete, a whimper came from me when I saw her face. Her lips were sliced open and bleeding, her eyes just barely fluttering open. She was cut up everywhere, gashes and bruises beginning to form along her exposed flesh. Hadn't she been through enough?! If I had the energy, I would have howled out how much anger I felt in that moment. But all my energy was directed at getting her out of them and into my arms.
"Bella…" I whined, praying that she could hear me. Slowly, I dug my hands into the pile of broken wall and ceiling, just enough to get my hands around her body. She groaned, squeezing her eyes shut, which allowed a few more tears to roll down her cheeks while I moved her. "Are you alright? Do you hurt anywhere?"
"M-My head…It hurts…Edward…" she replied, her voice so quiet and broken. Brushing some hair from her face, I planted a soft kiss atop her forehead. It was then that I finally gave myself a chance to see who was moving about.
The dust had cleared by now. I could see Alice plainly, her hands around the neck what appeared to be Victoria. Jasper was holding the redhead down.
"You bitch," I heard Alice say, which was shocking since I never heard her swear before. Victoria was hissing like a wounded cat, her eyes ablaze even though she was the one in trouble. I caught a few glimpses in my head, of Jasper being stabbed routinely by needles, before Victoria would put her hands all over him against his will. Apparently her appetite was insatiable.
I smiled as the sounds of stone chipping filled my ears. I decided to allow them the moment to themselves, looking to where I figured the others had been blasted. There was no movement from that direction yet, but what I did see surprised me.
Carlisle, holding a limp Esme in his arms. He looked traumatized, yet resolute as he carried her through the rubble. There was a tube of some kind clinging to his neck, dangling against his shoulder while he walked. Not far behind him were Rosalie and Emmett; their shape not but better than the two ahead of them. Rosalie looked as though she could have aged, her eyes bleak while her body seemed sunken in. Emmett just looked pissed. Pissed and tired.
There was a wave of relief that crashed over me when I realized that Bella had freed them in her plight.
"You saved them, Bella," I whispered, smiling down at her as she tried to lift a hand to touch my cheek.
Her mouth tried to mirror mine. My delicate little human wasn't so delicate anymore. But as I stared into her eyes, I knew that deep down, she was still fragile.
Which was why, when I heard more rubble moving, I stiffened and went into protector-mode.
Billy was the first to appear, surprisingly enough. When I saw his mop of hair appear over some broken down medical beds, I kissed Bella's hair and carefully lay her down. She didn't need to take part in this. While he coughed up mucus and blood, I dashed to his side, grabbing his hair and yanking him upwards. I may have been weak, but I was still plenty strong enough to deal with him.
The viscosity of his insides was nothing compared to my abilities, and I crushed his throat with ease. He stared at me while I felt every muscle spasm. His eyes were confused, shocked, and a little terrified. All I could feel was smugness. Victory. This spineless bastard had been behind the gang-rape of my love, and he was to die by my hand. It was actually almost beautiful how the life drained from his eyes.
His thoughts were scattered. Pleading for mercy, begging to be killed quickly, all the while damning Jane for letting us live. I only snorted at that last one, dropping him like garbage to the ground. Another piece of rubble to clear away.
I would have tortured him more, but he wasn't worth the effort. I just wanted him gone.
Meanwhile, it seemed that James had reappeared, though he was such a coward that I watched with no surprise at all as he fled the scene. Alice and Jasper were checking on the others as I noticed Bella getting up, holding her wobbling frame. My feet carried me back towards her, our eyes locking as a myriad of emotions passed between us. I was proud of her. I was scared for her. We didn't know what just happened, yet none of that mattered. We were here. She didn't listen to Jane's lies.
She fought them off. Freed us.
Holding a quivering hand out to me, Bella tried her best to smile. Even with blood and dust all over her, even with her eyes no longer the chocolate that I had loved before…she was a vision. I extended my hand to grasp hers, holding it tightly.
Which was a saving grace, as a beat later, a hand jet out from beneath where Bella stood, grabbing her ankle and yanking down so hard that even I fell. Bella let out a blood-chilling scream as I heard the sound of bones snapping.
"It must be Jane!" Alice cried out.
I held onto her as tightly as I could without harming her, clamoring to get closer to her as her lower half began to sink through the debris.
"Edward! Help me!" she cried out, shrieking as she fought to hold onto me.
Emmett's howls startled me, my eyes snapping over to see Rosalie shifting into Riley. That fucker! I didn't have the chance to see anything else before I felt both Bella and I sink.
We had to have been above a lower level of the facility, because we were now falling.
