AN ~ I am aware that some people find multiple POVs tedious/annoying but it was necessary in this case because there's so much going on in a very short space of time.
Chapter Thirty Seven: Esme's Quest
Carlisle:
I couldn't stop fidgeting as I waited for Esme to return. She'd only been gone a minute, but here and now, that was 59 seconds too long. I paced. I ran my hand through my hair. I tried desperately not to panic as the second minute ticked over.
I paused for a moment and thought - am I being too dramatic about this? Really, what can happen in two minutes?
It didn't take long for an answer to come. Too many answers, actually. I bit my lip and shoved them away. I needed to think about something else.
The family. After Esme, they were my first priority. They'd be Esme's too. She'd make me swear black and blue that they were all unharmed and accounted for. Even if Victoria had...won...Esme would have trusted me to keep the family safe. I felt only a minute release of tension as I looked around to assure myself of their wellbeing.
Alice was chiding Jasper for his recklessness as he flexed his fingers to exorcise the pain of a bite to his arm. Apparently he had been trying to protect her while also fighting too many opponents. He laughed off her concern and graciously accepted her chastising: he had fared much worse in other battles.
Rosalie was lathering Emmett with kisses and he was simply lapping up the attention. He had several tears in his shirt and shallow cracks in his skin where he had effectively ploughed through the newborn army.
Three minutes.
Esme was not back yet. My entire body was burning with the need to go find her, to make sure that she was safe, but I couldn't leave the group now. There were still newborns running around in the forest, as well as the pack and Victoria. If one of them killed me, it wouldn't do anyone any good. It was either all of us go, or nobody, and if we all went - and probably even if I went alone - we would be enough of a distraction to Esme to practically hand her to Victoria on a silver platter.
If she's even still...
No. I mustn't think like that. Esme will be fine. She's an excellent fighter, and Jasper has helped her immensely.
But Victoria won't fight her. She'll dart in and run off. Esme will be under constant ambush.
I half-whined and half-growled, then glanced up at the tree line and scanned the sky for pillars of billowing purple smoke. There were none. Yet.
Four minutes.
.o.o.o.
Esme:
Victoria's bright orange hair danced in front of me like flames, taunting me, teasing because I was only almost fast enough. I gritted my teeth and forced myself to go faster, my muscles screaming with resistance. They weren't supposed to stretch or grow, I wasn't supposed to be able to run any faster than my top speed, but I had to.
The skin across my torso also roared its hatred; relentlessly being pulled and released, pulled and released, pulled and released with every step while the cracks the newborn had given me were trying to heal.
I snarled in frustration as the flicker of orange disappeared from sight. Then returned. Then disappeared. Victoria giggled and kept on. I followed. She had slipped away from me countless times. Today, she would not. I was alone, she was alone. Only one of us was coming out of this.
Victoria seemed to share my opinion. She skidded to a halt a hundred yards or so in front of me, and grinned at me like the Cheshire cat as I threw myself at her. Of course, Victoria was prepared for a move as rash as that; she easily caught me and crushed me against the ground, her hand at my throat. She was off-balance, though, so I grabbed both of her shoulders and flipped us over. The easiest, safest method would be to snap her neck, but to do that I would have to release her arms, which means she would probably -
Taking me unawares, Victoria flipped me back onto the ground. She fixed my legs against the dirt by putting one knee either side of them. I couldn't kick them free. She laughed. One of her arms across my collar bone pressed both my shoulders against the earth, restricting movement of my arms. I was trapped.
"You just never give up, do you?" Victoria purred, dragging a finger of her free hand up my neck and winding it into a lock of hair that had come loose to hang by my ear.
"Of course I don't. Neither do you." It was a struggle to sound confident under duress, but my voice scarcely wavered. Jasper's words were ringing in my head: Try and get up, Esme. You can do it.
"You can never understand why I do what I do," Victoria hissed, her mad but innocent facade disappearing for a moment. She clamped a hand around my throat and narrowed her eyes. "Don't you dare pretend it."
I felt a pang of sadness for her, but it left me in an instant. Each of her spidery fingers grasping my neck served as intimidating reminders. I had to focus. How to get up, how to get up, how to-
Victoria roared with frustration at my not having answered her, and snapped my head to the left. Groaning with the effort, I forced my whole body to turn as well. Startled at my bizarre tactic, Victoria was tilted off balance again; just for a moment, but it was enough so I could knock her away - not far, though - and stagger to my feet.
"Come on, sweetheart," she crooned, crouching and backing up. "Let me pass, and I'll let you live. Edward is the only one I want to hurt. You can walk away from this now. I saw your mate not long ago. I'm sure you want to be getting back to him. I'd go back to James, if I could."
She pouted innocently. There were shadows in her eyes. For a moment, if felt like I was looking into the poor woman's tormented soul. Sadness and sympathy threatened to overwhelm me. I refused them purchase in my heart.
"No," I growled. "You will not lay a finger on Edward."
She laughed.
"I have no intention of laying a finger on Edward," she said. Her voice had a psychotic twist. "Oh no. I'll not harm him. Not physically at least. But he will pay for what he's done. I want him to feel the pain I felt when he took my James from me!"
She jumped forward, hoping that she had distracted me enough to get past, but I was prepared. I shoved back. In fact, I grabbed her and slammed her against the ground.
"If you touch Bella, I will kill you." I snarled. I fully intended on killing her anyway, because I knew nothing I could say would make her reconsider her course of action. My fingers wrapped themselves tightly around her neck, my knees digging into her stomach. Victoria was just smiling slyly up at me. I hesitated, instantly suspicious. I knew that look. It meant she knew something I didn't.
.o.o.o.
Carlisle:
Five minutes passed.
Six.
Nearly halfway through the sixth minute, Alice gasped, interrupting my anxious count. We quickly gathered around her.
"What is it, darlin'?" Jasper crooned, stroking the hair out of his mate's eyes as they returned to the present. "Is it the Volturi?"
"No." She shook her head, and her eyes locked on mine with such sadness and intensity that I knew what she was going to say.
"Carlisle...oh, Carlisle...It's Victoria. She won."
.o.o.o.
Esme:
"Riley!" Victoria cried helplessly, flailing uselessly. "Oh, Riley, she's going to hurt me!"
"Who's Riley?" I demanded. "What are you-"
Before I could finish, someone picked me up by the back of the shirt and tossed me far away from Victoria. I hit a tree with a thud, and fell to the ground, bringing half a tonne of snow down on my own head. I heard the growls and splintering crunches of the wolves fighting not far off. From the sounds of it, they were just finishing up. They hadn't been anywhere near me when I had been fighting Victoria. How far had I gone?
I looked deep into the trees, hoping for that flash of red, that beacon that would call the chase back on, but I could see nothing, hear nothing, smell nothing of Victoria.
I groaned and threw my head back. It hit the tree, bringing down more snow, and I moaned loudly, expressing frustration and rage that couldn't be relieved with words.
.o.o.o.
Carlisle:
The search was on, with no question of safety. The wolves had probably finished up the newborns by now anyway. We ran, urgent and tense as we searched the forest, and Alice searched for Esme's fate.
"She's okay," Alice sighed, slowing to a jog. "Victoria followed through with her usual tactic. She's gone. Esme's not far - just through there. But God, she looks a wreck, Carlisle."
The others dropped away with Alice, but I kept running until I set eyes on Esme. Her hair was mad, her clothes torn - well, what I could see of them, anyway. She was half-buried in snow, and moaning in agony, anger and frustration. But she was safe.
"Esme, Esme," I breathed, hurrying towards her. It was all I could say, all I could think. I pressed on through the thick snow and wrapped my arms tightly around her. She had her eyes shut and her head leant back against the tree trunk, but she must have heard or smelt me coming. Nevertheless, she didn't react until I kissed the top of her head and took a deep breath of her delicate aroma.
She turned to me with forlorn eyes, apologising and begging me for understanding. She leant into my chest, burying her face against my shoulder. I rested my cheek gently on it and hummed softly.
"Oh Carlisle," she choked at last. "I messed up. I let Victoria go. I failed."
"No, sweetheart. Never," I disagreed gently. "Alice saw it. Victoria tricked you. This is not your fault. The others will have informed the wolves of what happened, and the message has probably already been relayed to Seth and Edward. They can take care of it."
"Is everyone safe?" Esme pried herself off my chest and looked into my eyes with a new strength. I smiled at her and nodded.
"You gave us a bit of a scare," I said, "but we're all fine."
Esme laughed once and sniffed, reluctantly standing up. I followed, and gently pulled her close. I gave her a soft kiss, and her grief, frustration, anger seemed to fade away. Both of us sighed, and she entwined her fingers faithfully in mine.
"We should be getting back," she breathed.
"One more?" I requested, eyeing her now smiling lips.
She obliged.