Chapter Summary: Bella's sudden decision to kiss Edward has a high price to pay and Victoria, the vengeful vampire, intends to make her pay in full. At the same time, both Edward and Jacob have a decision to make; do they fight each other or save the girl they love?

*Disclaimer: I do not own Twilight.

Chapter XXXIV Title: 'Snow White Queen,' by Evanescence

(BPOV)

I couldn't breathe. The look and shock on Jacob's face was literally causing me to have a panic attack; a thousand invisible needles jabbed themselves into my skin all at once and it was then I realized that I took something as easy as breathing for granted.

Just as I had been taking Jacob for granted.

His eyes were glossy as he continued to stare as Edward and I, as if he were afraid to make another move. Was this another dream that I was having? Was I really bringing down two people that I loved? I did love them both; I knew I did. How could loving them both feel so wrong and so right at the same time?

"He's here, Bella," Edward repeated.

My fingers tightened around Edward's shoulders as my wolf finally did step forward a little, with his teeth bared. Jacob's eyes looked hateful as he watched us and I became stiff with dread. I looked at him with pleading eyes though I didn't deserve his sympathy. I deserved nothing from him.

"Jacob, relax. Just re—" I started.

Jacob barked, took a wobbly step closer toward us, and it made me cut my plea short.

Bad idea. Bad idea. Don't piss off the werewolf.

"Jacob—" I began again, but was cut off. It was as if my eyes were finally opened. No words were necessary to explain.

Jacob growled again, but his eyes were toward the extreme left of Edward. A single pair of red eyes were watching all three of us from a nearby brush and two of its incisors poked through the leaves. Edward stepped in front of me.

"It's him," Edward clarified. "It's Riley."

I stayed behind Edward's body as his cruel smile displayed itself toward the thicket. I had never seen him smile so coldly except with the pack.

"Victoria's supposed new mate," Edward explained. "Isn't that right, Riley? Isn't that what she promised you if you agreed to kill my beloved?"

The vampire called Riley emerged from the forest shrubbery slowly and Jacob's ears stood erect and his front shoulders tensed back. Jacob continued to growl and Riley looked uncertain from Edward and me to my wolf.

"Call off your mutt!" Riley exclaimed.

"I'm sorry, but I don't own him." Edward continued to look on and keep ahold of the cuffs of my sweater. I was trembling in fear for Edward and Jacob. Jacob was visibly shaking more violently than I ever saw of him and seemed immovable to the idea of backing away from his target. I had never seen Jacob actually fight a vampire, but if it was in any way like he had fought off the vargulf, there was nothing that this vampire would be able to do to him. Edward started to speak again. "I don't know all the details of what Victoria has told you, but if you back off now, no harm will come to you. We will not hurt you."

Jacob continued to snarl as if he disagreed.

Riley looked more confused when a female's voice rung out, "Forget it! Riley, my love, he's trying to trick you. That's what they do. Those who lie in bed with humans lie to their own kind. Destroy that dog! He can't even keep track of his own woman—"

Jacob howled suddenly and lunged himself at a frightened Riley.

Edward pushed me back and spun around as Victoria landed somewhat on his back not too far from where I fell. She had jumped from a high branch and the ground shook underneath the two immortal forces hitting the dirt. I turned frantically toward Jacob and saw that he had already torn off Riley's hand and was already jumping again for another helping. Riley looked beside himself and clutched his ruined shirt as Jacob's body bounced off of his damaged, stone body. I heard Jacob grunt from the impact of the hard granite surface and Riley ducked a little, preparing to shoulder Jacob so that he could throw him.

I struggled to get to my feet and searched for Edward. He and Victoria were taunting each other with slow movements, but Victoria was steadily becoming more annoyed.

"Fight! Fight me—because after I win, I'll kill your love and that dog, if it's still alive!" Victoria snarled vehemently. "Is that the mutt who's been protecting her while you've been away, sweetheart? Is that the scent I smell all over her body? That can't be right. You've been replaced by an animal—"

"It's over, Victoria," Edward cut in, his pain becoming more unmasked as Victoria's hurtful truth persisted. "The battle is lost on your side and your newborn army has been destroyed. Just leave now and forget about Bella."

Her red hair flowed back with the wind as she mockingly considered his request. "I don't think I will. She means so much to you. Just like James meant so much to me—"

"Then kill me," Edward cried. "I killed James so you should just kill me. Leave her alone. It wasn't her fault—"

"And why would you do this for her? She's human!" Victoria screamed back.

"That's the deal, Victoria. Kill me and leave her alone," he repeated. "Do you hear me? Call Riley off while he still has a few limbs left and leave. No one will stop you." Edward promised and looked serious.

I shook my head.

He couldn't do this. He couldn't sacrifice himself and leave me. Not again. Not when I had had a chance to hold him, to feel him against me as I had.

I screamed out before I could stop myself and ran toward them. "Edward—NO!"

Edward looked at me before he reached for Victoria's inhuman frame, grabbing her as her long, pale fingers reached the cuff of my sweater, and slammed her down into the ground. The top half of my body was wrenched forward a little as Victoria fought to hold onto my bit of clothing and Edward's fingers crushed around her wrist. I heard bones break as I saw his face wear a horrible snarl and my feet scraped the dirt in an effort to give myself more distance from between my killer and my love. I heard a nearby scraping sound and surprised moan as Riley's head was torn from his body and thrown into a nearby tree. Jacob looked nearly sick as he tossed aside what was left of the former vampire in his mouth and rushed toward the two fighting vampires that were left.

Victoria knocked Edward back, her hair looking wild and eyes viral, but calm as she smiled. Edward had been tossed to the ground and she stood almost completely over him.

"You're too easy," Victoria purred in triumph. "I think I'll kill you first and then I'll—AARGH!"

Jacob leaped, sinking his teeth into her left side, and pulled her down. Victoria struggled and looked baffled at my wolf's strength. She begun to swing at him and Jacob continued to pull at her stomach and upper thighs as if she were a deer. He succeeded in wrapping his mouth around the bottom of her neck with a small leap when she struggled to get her side free from him.

Suddenly Victoria gained her advantage; Jacob's back foot had stumbled as he tried to drag her a few inches and her free arm reached up, entangled in his side. He winced and she grabbed his leg to pull him closer, got him in her arms and squeezed. His eyes bulged and the sounds of his bones cracking were more like dead twigs one steps on when crossing a forest path.

My mind lurched into the memory of Jacob and I walking together on the beach, in the forest, hanging out at his house, laughing at him making him a fool of himself…The day that I had ran from Laurent to the clearing that I was now certain had been mine and Edward's meadow. I remembered how the trees had been silent as my death seemed so certain, but the cracked twigs and been broken by my wolf's majestic walk. He had interrupted a monster killing another monster and had saved my life. And now he was sacrificing his own life to save mine again.

When would it stop? When would I save him?

"JAKE!" I crawled to Victoria and she snickered. She squeezed Jacob tighter. "DON'T! KILL HIM—kill me please," I cried softly. My voice was hoarse and low, but I knew Victoria had heard me.

"I intend to." Another cry left me as Victoria fumbled with Jacob a little in her arms, as if he were a big stuffed toy. Jacob's sides caved in Victoria's arms. He whelped, Victoria's smile never changing, and then she suddenly dropped him; she didn't have a choice. Edward had snuck up behind her and as she turned to move away, to fight him face to face, he had grabbed her hair, spun her around, and sank his teeth into half of her throat and open grimace. A dry shriek shook the nearby trees and I was in too much awe and worry to cover my own ears. Edward roared as he pushed Victoria's uselessly flailing arms and ripped the very pale skin from the rest of her throat. She gurgled and slumped down a little. I saw the fragments of crystal glass spray across the forest floor in front of Victoria's body and I was suddenly afraid of Edward. His eyes were closed a little, but I could see his black stare as he watched Victoria take her last few unnecessary breaths. He looked smug as he regarded the slowing movement of her eyes, already starting to see nothing, and then tore open her mouth with his bare hands.

The color of her hair was as bright as the nearby red shrubs and her once crimson eyes became the color of the dead, murky-brown mushrooms lying on the forest floor. But all of that was like a mere backdrop for my human senses compared to the dread I felt.

I slowly crawled to the only reddish figure I cared to see through my tears, the only one that mattered. Jacob was laid only a few feet away, but he felt so much further. I could hear his rapid panting as I continued to move toward him, afraid that if and when I got to him, I would discover that he would already be gone.

No!

Hate filled my heart for whatever had been responsible for my wolf's hurt, for the unimaginable pain that he was surely in. My mouth trembled and my muscles ached already from crying and a loss of hope. Anger consumed me for the one person responsible for Jacob's predicament: me. The one person that I hated more than anyone, more than anything else was me.

My shrill, but hollow wails shook the pebbles on the dirt floor, forming around the motionless body of my best friend. The memories of his boisterous laugh and tantalizing smile was the only thing happy that I could hold on to at this moment; because right now, Jacob was fighting for his life and the same voice inside my head that was reminding me of what he was before all of this was my fault. The guilt of knowing that did not leave me silent; on the contrary, it deafened the ears.