A/N: No, I have not abandoned this story, life just majorly got in the way. In summary because some people asked, healing a herniated disc, teaching full time, in grad school, moved twice recently, and getting ready for the musical to open that I'm in! ("Kiss Me Kate", Cole Porter classic, I'm a dancer). I have the next chapter halfway done so hopefully it'll be up soon. 3

Chapter 35

Here We Go

"This is the place I come to when I need to think and get away from everything. It's really peaceful in the spring and summer when it's a little sunnier," Edward said after a few more minutes of silence.

"I was actually trying to imagine it when it's nicer, here. It's nice and isolated," I responded. Edward walked over to me and sat on the other side of me, where Jacob wasn't. I heard a low grumble from my wolf, but he would get over it. I knew he just wanted me to himself. Edward wasn't threatening us in any way.

"Yeah, it's really pretty when all the flowers have bloomed and the sun shines through the trees. Hopefully you can see it someday," he mumbled. I knew he didn't mean it romantically, but of course Jake turned his head away and huffed a big breath.

After a few more minutes of picking at grass, Edward, Jake, and Brady all stood up faster than my eyes could follow.

"Here we go, Bella, just keep your eyes and ears open and listen to us, okay?" Edward pretty much told me. He could probably tell how nervous I was.

"Okay so what's going on, come on," I persuaded.

"It looks like about 20 vampires just ran out, I don't see Victoria yet, but I don't know if I'm seeing the whole group," every now and then he paused, glancing between Jake and Brady to see different perspectives of the field. "The battle has begun, Alice just had a vision and is yelling to whoever can hear her to make sure we get the message. She said Victoria is following our trail and on her way, she doesn't know if she has anyone with her. We need to be ready," he said looking at the wolves.

"I'm assuming Quil got back in time and didn't run into anyone?" I asked, realized my brother could have been in danger. Before Edward could answer, Jake nodded and licked my hand. I let out a big breath that I didn't know I was holding. Thank goodness Quil made it back to help out and nothing happened on the way.

"I don't know when Victoria will find us, but the newborn army already has several casualties. No one on our side is hurt," Edward said, looking at me. I really appreciated how he didn't say, 'yet' referring to no one on our side being hurt. I felt a shiver run through my body. Jake, Brady, and Edward all turned around and watched what must have been a newborn run towards us. Now I hadn't known who it was without supernatural vision and hearing but I never saw any bright red hair so I could only assume. As soon as a I saw a blur running towards us, Jake and Brady attacked it. I saw one wolf rip his head and the other wolf rip any limb he could get his teeth in. Edward stood in front of me to block me from any unknown enemies. I'm sure they were listening out to who could have been behind us.

"Don't watch this, Bella. I know it's one of those things you just can't take your eyes away from but don't watch this. Once you see it, you can't un-see it," he said, sounding remorseful. He had a point, that was something that I would replay in my brain for as long as I was haunted by it. I knew that the Cullens and the wolves would only destroy for good, to help others, but all I could see was destruction. This newborn, I could only assume, I was a younger looking boy with dirty blond hair with a shocked look on his face. He clearly wasn't expecting wolves to be one of his targets. If he was, he surely didn't show it. Brady and Jake had limbs flying and parts of his body in shreds. Edward got out the lighter as the wolves were panting. Jake came over and stood next to me, kind of in front of me blocking me from the flames, as the pile of the newborn burned. I couldn't believe it was a person, dead or alive, on fire in front of me. That's something you don't see every day.

"A huge group of newborns just entered the other side of the clearing. My family and the wolves are all in position ready to fight," Edward told me, looking straight at me to gauge my reaction. I looked at Jake who looked a little nervous.

"Keep going, are they fighting yet? I want to know everything Edward, anything could change at any moment," I said a bit desperately. I knew it wouldn't make a difference if I heard it now or later, but waiting for news was just way too suspenseful right now.

"Alice is being Alice, playing around with a newborn's head and tricking him by avoiding their strikes playfully. Jasper is taking out newborns by the moment and adding to the pile, Carlisle and Esme are in decent fights, Rose and Emmett are working together since Emmett won't leave her side," Edward continued. He looked up quickly at Jacob with a surprised look in his eyes.

"Jacob, do you trust me? I promise you she will stay safe to the best of my ability. Brady will be here," Edward said seriously. Jake looked at me with sorrowful eyes and licked my cheek, not playfully like usual. "He says he loves you and he'll see you later, he has to go Bella," Edward told me.

"I love you too, stay safe Jake," I said as my eyes began to tear up. I couldn't handle all of this suspense with people's safety at risk. Very obviously something was happening. Jake ran into the woods. "Edward what's going on? I mean this in the nicest way possible but for him to trust me with you is saying something really bad happened," I started panicking.

"Embry got hurt, pretty badly too. That's why Jake got so nervous so quickly. Even if they don't need back up, which it didn't look like they did, Jake wanted to be there to help him and protect him from any other newborns," Edward explained. Brady was laying on the ground, also looking nervous. I couldn't imagine how he felt, knowing one of his brothers was in pain and possibly…I couldn't think about that now. I went over and sat next to Brady to stroke his thick coat. Hopefully it would be comforting. It surely did help my nerves a little bit.

We just sat in the clearing for what felt like hours, but I'm pretty sure it hadn't even been half an hour yet. Edward had only given me a few more updates since people were just fighting, and getting rid of newborns. No updates on Embry, they couldn't get him back to the rez since all the wolves needed to be present who could help.

A few minutes later when I was laying practically on top of Brady for comfort, he tensed up and growled. I got up so he could move, which he did quickly, standing in a defensive position in front of me from where the danger was coming from. Edward was standing at that point too, which meant something was happening. Well, here goes nothing.

A red-headed vampire and what we guessed was a newborn ran out of the trees and stopped right next to me. She had run around Brady so fast and Edward was next to me at the same time she was. Why didn't they block her? Was she that much faster? I'm sure my heart started beating faster which probably didn't help my lifespan while I was standing next to two vampires who desperately wanted my blood.

I was still concerned about Embry, I could barely focus on what was happening here. All of a sudden I feel a sharp throbbing pain in my back. I whimper in pain, but of course all four supernatural creatures look over at me. Brady looks sad and shows his sympathy.

"Bella, Jacob was hit pretty hard, but he's back up and moving, don't worry too much. Focus," Edward told me, his eyes not leaving the vampires. I could tell he was also focusing on Victoria's and the new born's minds to figure out what they would do next. I wondered if Victoria knew about his gift? I guessed we would find out. All I could think about is my Jacob in pain and trying to keep fighting for his pack.

"So, you thought I wouldn't catch up to her eventually, Edward?" Victoria asked, quite evilly if I may add. If we were all human this scene could have been from a suspense action thriller in form of a kidnapping or something.

"I was hoping you wouldn't, but we deal with what we're given," Edward responded calmly.

"Well, deal with this," she said as she started to move her arm towards me, but Brady was too quick for her. I was happily surprised that Brady saw this coming first considering Edward already knew what she was going to do. My thought was answered in the next moment, Edward had to hold the newborn back while Brady distracted Victoria. I wondered if Jake knew what was going on right now, if him and Brady were communicating? I hoped they would just focus on their own tasks.

Brady caught her arm in his teeth and ripped it off but Victoria kicked him hard in the ribs. He went flying backwards and landed at least 10 yards away from us. It took him a moment to get up. Now I was even more nervous. With Brady not at 110%, I wasn't sure if Edward could keep two vampires back on his own. I could only hope that Brady called for back up. I could also only hope that Jake was the one running to me right now, but I knew they had their own problems.

Edward and Victoria were going back and forth. Victoria was a bit off balance but I already knew that she was a very good fighter. The newborn vampire was just kind of standing to the side watching in fear. I doubt he had been exposed to an experienced vampire fight before based on his face. Brady got up, a bit slowly, but he wouldn't give up, and was able to sneak up on the newborn. He leapt up and bit off the newborns head. He still tried to hurt Brady, but just wasn't experienced enough. Meanwhile Edward and Victoria didn't look like they'd be finishing anytime soon. I wanted to see if Edward could ask Brady to call someone over but I didn't want to distract him either. I took the risk and would have to live with the consequences.

"Brady, think of everyone over in the clearing. Edward, tell him who to get," I said. I didn't care who heard, she wouldn't know who was coming. Honestly neither would I until I saw them. Brady froze with the newborn vampire's body under his as he held an arm in his mouth. He looked at Edward who kept his eyes on Victoria, who wasn't really in a position to do nearly as much damage as normal. After about five seconds, which also felt like hours, Edward nodded his head and muttered, 'yes'. If Edward was actually getting someone over here, that meant the clearing was still bombarded with newborns, which meant hopefully everyone was alright, for the most part. A few seconds later, Edward muttered another quiet, 'yes'. Were two vampires coming, or two wolves, or one of each? This was going to get interesting. Edward was able to get Victoria farther away from me. Fortunately she couldn't climb trees anymore, but neither could I so we would all be on the same level. I didn't want to move closer to Brady in fear of the newborn moving but I didn't want to move at all and distract Victoria towards me either. I just stood there, not knowing what to do but absolutely terrified. My life could end today, I could become a supernatural creature today, or I could walk away safely.

After again, what felt like an hour of Brady and Edward going back and forth with the other vampires, I heard rustling in the woods, which meant that they were really close if I could hear them with my simple human hearing. Out of the woods burst two figures, one vampire, short a blond, and huge black wolf both running to different people. Sam ran over to Brady to help him finish pulling apart the newborn. Brady slowly walked over to a tree and laid down to rest. Hopefully nothing was broken and he would heal before we left the clearing. Jasper on the other hand ran straight over to Edward. Victoria obviously heard someone coming and was probably aware of their scents but she was obviously caught off guard by the huge alpha wolf that would go to her next. Jasper caught her enough off guard by going to her side with her bad arm and Edward pulled off her other arm. That must be a major perk of being able to read minds, strategizing. Now they had her pinned and could pull apart the rest of her. It was one of those things that I couldn't unsee once I saw it. I wish I didn't see it, but it's not the end of the world, definitely not what I expected of today. Sam walked over to me when he was done with the newborn and he checked on Brady, who was clearly in pain but so brave. He put his head under my arm and smiled at me, showing everything would be okay. I didn't know if it was because he was Alpha or because he is a wolf like Jake, but I could feel that everything was fine. I hadn't felt anything else from Jake, and Edward hadn't told me anything else which could have been good or bad. Now I just wait for it all to be over.

A/N: Review please! Should someone else be hurt? Should there be any casualties to make things different from the book? Thoughts and input please