I am so sorry that it took me this long to finish this chapter! It was was a very difficult chapter to write and it took me way longer than I had thought when I started writing it... To make it up to all of you I made the chapter nice and long though some of you might not like the end of it ;)
An entire chapter from Jasper's POV, enjoy!
Jasper POV
We were ready, or at least as ready as we were ever going to be. The only ones who had real experience with fighting phoenixes were Zackary and Damian and the rest of us had learned it from them. The Volturi had been a great help in the training as well and even I had learned some new things from them.
As this was the last hour before we were going to teleport to the Master's castle, everyone was doing some last minute activities. Some had gone hunting and would meet us at the baseball clearing while others, namely the girls, were getting ready in their rooms. I didn't really understand why you would have to do your hair, clothes and make-up before a giant battle, but I just dismissed it as "girls are weird that way". 'Are the girls seriously still up there?' Zackary asked. He pointed up to the bedrooms where the girls had locked themselves in. 'Yes, and I have a feeling that it's going to take a while before they come out of there.' I sighed in mock frustration.
'Don't worry, Jasper. Here we are, ready to go.' I turned around to see Rosalie walking towards me, closely followed by Alice, Melody and Anna. They were all wearing the same kind of outfit, cargo pants, a tank-top and sneakers. Anna, Melody and Rosalie had their hair pinned up or in a ponytail so that it wouldn't get in the way while fighting. 'Sorry to keep you guys waiting.' Anna apologised. 'That's okay, honey.' Esme said reassuringly as she came walking down the stairs with the Denali women.
I could understand why they had been upstairs for a while. Everyone was wearing clothing in which they could fight easily and the women with long hair all had it tight up and together so that it wouldn't get in the way. The hair wouldn't have taken long, but finding the clothing might have been a problem. All the women usually wore feminine clothing and shoes, but they didn't really have actual fighting clothes. They probably had to dig deep into their closets to find these clothes and Alice had probably gotten her clothes new from the store as all the clothing she owned wasn't suited for fighting.
Melody came to stand next to me and put her arm around my waist. I smiled at her for a second before turning my attention to the others. The room was extremely crowded at the moment as the men, who had been waiting outside, had entered when they heard the women come downstairs. 'The other covens and the wolfs will be waiting for us at the clearing.' I told them. 'Let's go.' I turned around and walked outside without waiting for a reply.
Everyone knew the way to the clearing so I didn't waste any time and launched myself into the air. Melody, Damian, and Zackary followed and the four of us flew at full speed towards the clearing. When we arrived we were met by the Quileute wolfs who were all in their human form. Serena stood among them and was having a conversation with Paul, Embry and Jacob. They all looked up as we came closer and nodded in our direction. No one said anything out loud and even the small, whispered conversation that Serena was having died out as more and more of our little army began to arrive in the clearing.
The first to arrive were Amun and Kebi who were closely followed by the Irish coven, all of them with shining red eyes. Next to come were our family with the Denali's and Benjamin and Tia who all had glowing gold eyes as they had hunted on their way here. Both Benjamin and Tia had decided to try the vegetarian diet and were rather fond of it now. They didn't mind the taste that much and thought the hunt itself was way more fun than feeding off humans. The Cullens were closely followed by the Amazon coven, Peter and Charlotte and last, but certainly not least, were the Volturi.
As everyone gathered around they all looked at me expectantly and I sighed inwardly. Even though I might be a great strategist I wasn't all that good in talking to a large crowd, let alone giving them a motivational speech. I thought for a moment about what I could say now and decided to just go for the army approach. 'Everyone, listen up. We'll be leaving this place in a couple of minutes to fight against an army of extremely powerful creatures. You have all witnessed the strength that phoenixes possess and have trained well to prepare yourselves.' I stopped here for a few seconds to let everyone absorb the compliment I had just given. When everyone once again had their attention on me I continued.
'We are going to teleport by using the powers of the phoenixes that are present here. The wolfs will all be transported by Serena,' Serena nodded and gave me a quick wink, 'Damian will take the Egyptian, Amazon and Irish coven with him.' Damian nodded and I took that time to calm everyone down a bit as some of the vampires were getting too excited for comfort. 'Zackary will take the Volturi and Alice with him and Melody and I will take our family and the Denali's with us. Any questions so far?'
I looked around to see everyone shaking their heads to indicate they didn't have any further questions so I continued. 'We will all arrive at the same location as every phoenix knows where to teleport to,' I checked quickly to make sure that no phoenix was looking at me questioningly. 'When you arrive, wait for the others so that we will all be together when we face the Master and whatever army he has with him.'
Everyone nodded and started moving immediately. The wolfs all transformed and stood close together as Serena placed one hand lightly on Paul's side and the other on Sam. A second later the entire group disappeared in Serena's very light blue fire. The next group that disappeared were Zackary, Alice and the Volturi. The look on the Volturi's faces was priceless as the green fire engulfed them and I could even feel some fear from a couple of the guards.
Damian teleported soon after Serena had gone which only left our family and the Denali's. 'Well, see you guys there.' Melody whispered. I nodded and watched as my mate took the hands of Irina and Garrett. When the circle was complete Melody released her fire and the entire group vanished in a sea of gold and red flames. That left only my family and me. I looked at each of them in turn as we stood together in the teleport circle. They all looked determined and ready and I knew that they would give it their all.
I concentrated on the fire within me and a second later our little circle was engulfed in my white and blue flames. The next thing that we all saw was the large plain that was below the floating castle of the Master. Everyone else was already there, but they weren't looking at us. They were all looking to the other side of the field on which a large army of phoenixes stood at the ready with the Master in front of them. The emotions on the field were all about the same, determined and scared. The feelings from both sides were mutual and only the Master was feeling extremely confident and reassured. 'Get into formation.' I ordered. Everyone on our side nodded and was in position within a second.
We had trained on this and everything else so many times that I only had to say a few short words to get everyone going. I had never led an army that was this organised which was something I wasn't used to before, but had learned to work with during the past couple of weeks. I had made the formation so that everyone who was mated was standing with his or her mate. In the past I had seen battles at which mates were on opposite sides of the army and the only thing that did was them trying to get to each other. This meant that they wouldn't fight and even though it wasn't such a big problem with only one mated pair, it would be a huge problem with the amount of mated people we had here today.
The next step of the plan was to talk to the Master. I already knew that this wasn't going to work, but as an army leader I had to do this as it was common courtesy. 'Jasper, my vision isn't stable anymore. Something's changed and I can't see the outcome clearly anymore.' Alice whispered just before I started walking towards the middle of the field. I just nodded so that Alice knew I had heard her, but I didn't comment. It didn't matter what the outcome of this fight would be, because we couldn't back down now. If we went home now the Master would just follow us and we would bring the people of Forks in a lot of danger. I knew that phoenixes didn't harm people, but I guessed that the Master was crazy enough to not care anymore. He just wanted us all dead and would probably do anything he could to see this happen.
I was relieved to see that the Master had at least the decency to come to the middle of the field as well. He was accompanied by two of his men so I motioned for Zackary and Emmett to follow me. I knew Melody wanted to come with me, but I didn't want my mate anywhere near the guy who had taken her away from me before. 'So, I see you've come to me. Well, that just saves me the trouble of teleporting towards you.' The Master chuckled. I gritted my teeth, but didn't respond to his behaviour. 'Yes, we've come to ask you to back down and leave us alone. We don't want to fight, but if we have to we will defend ourselves to stay alive.' I told my opponent. 'Right, which means that the prophecy about you becoming the next leader was false? That you will just go away when I promise to leave you alone?' The Master asked sceptically. 'Yes, that's exactly what I mean.' I told him.
This only made the Master laugh out loud as he shook his head in denial. 'You honestly think I would believe that?' he asked. 'You insult me if you think I'm that naïve. I will never give you my throne and I will beat you to prove to everyone that I am the rightful leader of our race.' With that the Master turned around and walked back to his ranks. I did the same and walked back to my family and friends who were all waiting for my command. We had all known that this conversation would lead to nothing so no one was disappointed that the fight was still going to happen.
Everyone was once again looking at me to give them instructions, but there wasn't anything else I could tell them. They still expected something though so I took a deep breath and addressed everyone. 'I know you are all scared of the fight ahead, but you are trained well and I have confidence in our victory. Fight the way you learned and don't be afraid to ask help if you need it. Make sure that those who have mates keep an eye on each other so that you will be able to fight to the fullest without fearing you might lose the other. Fight for you freedom and for those who live in this land and on earth. We will be victorious!'
My little speech was met by animalistic roars from the vampires and wolfs and shouts from the phoenixes. I turned around to face our enemy and saw that they were just standing there. The Master wasn't giving them a small speech to boast their confidence and I could sense that a lot of his soldiers were getting nervous now. 'Get ready, here they come.' I growled so that everyone on our side could hear.
The phoenixes on the opposite side began their assault slowly, but were soon moving at full speed towards us. 'Let's go!' I called. My call was answered by more roars and almost everyone flashed from their spot towards the enemy. The only ones who stayed behind were Bella, Edward, Carlisle and Esme. Bella's job was to stand behind the line of fire and shield all the vampires with an ability. Edward, Carlisle and Esme were here guard and had to make sure that any phoenix who got to them was destroyed before he or she could disturb Bella.
That's the last thing I could think of before I was flung into the battle myself. Two large, Emmett sized phoenixes came flying towards me at full speed and I readied myself for their arrival. When they were so close that I could feel their breath I launched upwards and let myself fall back down in the same second. Both my feet stomped into the phoenixes' backs which caused them to crash into the ground, leaving large gutters in their wake. I landed behind both of them and readied myself for when they would get up.
It didn't take them long to do just that and we were soon circling each other. I could feel that these guys didn't really want to fight which was interesting. 'You guys don't want to fight me, do you?' I asked them in a calm voice. 'None of your business, halfling.' One of them spat though I could feel that he didn't mean what he had said. 'I don't know what the Master told you guys, but you don't have to fight us. If you want you can just fly away or fight with us.' I told them while sending them a small wave of trust. 'The Master told us that you would come to kill us all. He told us that you would destroy our world.'
'That won't happen. We came here because the Master wants us dead and refuses to let us live our lives in peace. He believes too much in the prophecy that tells a halfling will take his throne and he can't see he's making the prophecy come true himself by doing this.' I spat the last part of my little speech and I could feel the hate towards the Master bubble up inside me. 'You're not here to kill us all?' the other phoenix asked as a bit of hope entered his emotional state. 'No, we only came here to fight for our freedom as well as yours.'
Both of the phoenixes thought about his for a second while they continued to circle me. 'We will fight with you.' They finally said in unison. I was surprised by their quick reply, but didn't have any time to react to it as they both shot fireballs towards me. I had barely enough time to launch out of the way before the fireballs would hit. Cursing myself that I should have read their emotions more carefully I readied myself to take the two phoenixes down only to see that they were attacking two others now. They had come up behind me and my two former enemies had seen them approaching when I hadn't even heard them yet.
'We have your back. Go for the Master and show him what you've got.' One of the phoenixes said without looking at me. 'Thank you.' I said and launched myself over the battlefield in the direction of the Master. Melody, spread the word that not all the phoenixes in the Master's army want to fight us. Let everyone try and explain to them why we're here and they might fight with us. I told my mate who was fighting alongside Zackary and Alice at the moment. I hadn't even noticed that she had gone from my side until now as I was too busy with the two phoenixes who had attacked me. Will do. I'll tell Zack and Alice to spread the word and then come to your side again.
I didn't reply to this and scanned the battlefield below and around me. The wolfs were holding up nicely with the help of Serena who made sure that attacks from above were difficult or impossible for the enemy. Benjamin was emitting fun as he took control of the fireballs that were coming his way and fired them back to their owners. This was so that the others on his side could fight the phoenixes who weren't using their fire. Damian was using his ability to change the weather to slow down the phoenixes who attacked from the sky. He used the air to push them back after which one of the vampires would jump up and drag the phoenix to the ground against his or her will.
The Cullens and Denali's were doing okay as well and so were the little group that was Bella's guard. They didn't have much to do so far, but that would soon change as I looked up and saw that only half of the Master's army had attacked us so far. I growled and turned around again. This was not yet the time to confront the Master as his defence was way too strong for me to get through. 'Mine!' someone growled behind me. I flipped around just in time to see a large, Emmett sized phoenix flying above me. I didn't have time to do anything though and was struck down by this guy in less than a second.
This phoenix was stronger than the ones I had seen before and I didn't even have time to land properly. Instead I crashed into the ground hard and left a hole in my wake. I quickly got up and crouched down in a defence stance while the large phoenix positioned himself in front of me in the same way. 'You don't have to fight me, you know?' I said, hoping I could persuade him as I had done with the other two before. 'You're wasting your breath, halfling. I'm not going to take orders from anyone who isn't a full phoenix.'
I searched his emotions for any sign that he might not be totally convinced about this, but all I could find was hate towards me and determination. I quickly dismissed any thought of trying to talk to him and let out a growl. 'Hah, so the old vampire makes its appearance.' The big guy said mockingly. I ignored this and started circling around the phoenix while keeping a close watch on the guy's emotions. 'Not willing to talk anymore? Fine by me.' The phoenix said and he started circling me as well.
A couple of times I tried to attack, but backed down at the last second. This guy didn't have any openings whatsoever, but luckily, neither did I. We danced around each other, sometimes feinting an attack, but most of the time just circling and watching. After a while I started to notice that a small crowd was starting to form around and above us. This didn't help me much as they were all from the opposite side. These were the phoenixes who hadn't joined the fight yet which meant that if I won against the big one I would have to fight my way through the others as well.
I made a quick calculation and came to twelve phoenixes, not counting the big one. 'Okay, let's get this over with.' The big guy growled. I made a split decision then and summoned my fire. 'Well, the little halfling knows a little trick. Too bad we all know that trick.' The guy drawled, but I ignored him. Instead I released my fire and let it form a dome around my opponent and myself so that the others couldn't interfere. One problem at the time was more than enough. 'You think that will help you against me?' 'No, but it will keep your little friends out of my way as I rip you to pieces.' I spat. I was done with this guy and his little speeches.
While I let a small part of my mind worry about keeping the fire in place, I used another part to build up as much pain and agony as I could. I held in there for a few seconds and grinned at my opponent. If he was anything like Emmett he wouldn't like that too much and would attack. My guess was right as the anger in the big one increased and he readied himself for an attack. I waited patiently, not even bothered to crouch down in a defensive stance. This only enraged my enemy more and that is when he decided to attack. 'You're mine now.' I whispered as I pushed all the pain and agony I had in me towards my opponent.
The effect that I had been hoping for happened and the big guy crashed to the ground. He was howling in pain and fear and made himself as tiny as he possible could. I walked over to him at a normal pace and crouched down next to him. 'You're first and last mistake was to underestimate me.' I whispered. The guy's eyes widened in fear as the reality sank in. I didn't give him enough time to think this all through though. He may be my enemy, but that didn't mean he should suffer. I quickly grabbed his neck, while keeping the emotional stream towards him active, and twisted it. A loud crack resonated around my fire dome followed by a tearing sound as the head came off. I quickly dismembered the rest of his body and put it all together in a pile. I knew that the body couldn't be burned so I just left him there.
I concentrated more on my fire again and slowly lowered it all until it was gone. I was met by the dozen phoenixes who had been there before and all of them were extremely hostile. 'You killed him! You killed my mate!' one of the female phoenixes shrieked. She wasn't thinking anymore and launched herself at me. She was like a newborn vampire now so I took care of her quickly, tossing the body parts on her mate's pile.
I knew that my actions would only cause the others to attack me as well so I quickly threw out a dose of lethargy. Thankfully this had the desired effect of all of them becoming a bit drowsy, but it wasn't enough to get them unfocused. I quickly flew up and positioned myself above my would-be attackers. 'Yo bro! Need a hand?' I looked down to see Emmett and Rosalie standing behind the little crowd that wanted me dead. 'Yeah, that would help a lot.' I said with a grin. Emmett just winked, picked up a body part from the pile I had created and threw it was hard as he could towards the hostile group.
Half of them reacted and turned towards my brother and sister while the rest of them were still looking at me. I was tempted to look down and see how my siblings were doing, but I had no time as two phoenixes attacked me at the same time. I blocked one and evaded another, only to be met by an elbow of a third. The elbow collided with the back of my head in a deafening crack and for a second my vision was littered with stars. When my vision came back I was met by a circle of phoenixes who were all ready to attack again. I didn't have any way to escape as four of them were around me while one was above me and one below me.
I readied myself for the attack as good as I could which was a good enough hint for the group to attack. I blocked the first three attackers, got hit in the back by a fourth and was about to be hit on the head again when that phoenix flew to the side all of a sudden. The next phoenix to disappear to the side was the one from below and after that came two of the phoenixes who were around me. 'Need some more help?' the familiar, bell like voice of my mate asked. I looked behind me to see one of my earlier opponents hanging in the air though he couldn't move a muscle. His dominant emotion now was fear as he strained against the hold Melody had on him.
'Duck!' Melody called and I did what she said without question. An instant later I felt the air above me move which was followed by the sound of something hitting someone. I looked behind me to see three phoenixes tumble down to the earth in a tumbling mess of feathers, arms and legs. Melody came to my side quickly and pulled me away from this lot. 'Jane is coming this way and will take care of them. Our family needs us more now.' Melody explained. I nodded and we launched ourselves into the direction of Carlisle, Esme, Edward and Bella.
Behind me the sounds and feelings of pain could be heard and I guessed that Jane had arrived at the scene. As the pain continued, fear also came into the emotional climate. I guessed that this was because both Emmett and Rosalie were there to dismember them. Melody pushed away two assailants on our way to Bella's group and had to stop when a third attacked us. He pushed back against her power which took my mate by surprise. 'You're not going anywhere, young one.' the guy said. 'Go Jasper, I'll hold him off.'
Of course I wanted to protest, but the feelings of desperation and fear hit me hard then. I spun around and zeroed in on the spot the emotions were coming from. My own fear spread through my body then as I saw that Esme was losing her fight against two phoenixes. Carlisle and Edward both tried to get to her, but they weren't able to get past their own opponents. Meanwhile Bella was feeling conflicted and I could understand why. Someone she loved dearly was in danger and all she could do was watch as she had to keep the others shielded.
I put on a burst of speed and launched myself towards the two phoenixes who, by now, had Esme pinned to the ground. A feral growl escaped my lips which caught the attention of the two though they didn't release Esme. I spun around at the last second and kicked one of them in the stomach. I tried to hit the other one too, but she was too fast. In one motion she had gotten out of my way and had dragged Esme with her. My surrogate mother growled and whimpered and tried to move, but it was no use. The grip the phoenix had on her was too strong to break free from.
I started circling the phoenix, hoping to find an opening in which I could attack her and free Esme. The phoenix wasn't taking any chances though and kept Esme between her and me the entire time. 'Just give it up. You won't be able to safe her and you know it.' The female said confidently. 'And look, here come more of my friends.' She was looking at something behind me, but I couldn't look back now. If I did the female would have an opening to attack me and I couldn't let that happen. Instead I started to circle her faster so that I could just glance up to see the reinforcements. There were seven in total and no one from our side was close enough to help us.
'Esme… I'm sorry.' I whispered as the only way to do this became clear to me. Esme just nodded and I could see venom tears pooling in her eyes. Tears she would never be able to shed, but were very real nonetheless. I clenched my jaw and readied myself for an attack. The female looked surprised, but recovered fast enough as a victorious grin spread across her face. I feinted left and was happy to see that the woman took the bait. Her defence became perfect for when I would attack from the left, but this also meant that changing to the other side would cost too much time. I quickly spun back to the right, came up around her and kicked her as hard as I could in the back.
A loud crack sounded across the clearing as my enemy's spine broke, followed by her howl of pain. Then the female did what I was afraid of. In her anger and as a reaction to the unanticipated attack she pulled both her arms back in an attempt to elbow me in the stomach. I dodged this, but the screeching sound of metal hit me so hard that I fell to the ground anyway. Next came the pain of Esme, Carlisle, Edward and Bella though Esme's pain was the most. I didn't have time to succumb to the emotions though as I had to finish this. As the female sank to the ground, next to Esme I quickly grabbed her head, twisted and ripped in clean off her shoulders. Next came the arms and legs which came of easily enough and I once again threw them all on a pile.
I wanted to help Esme more than anything, but there wasn't time as another wave of enemies was about to attack us. I quickly turned around to ready myself for the attack, but to my surprise the seven phoenixes who had come over were all standing on the ground with a blank expression on their faces. A quick look to my side showed me that the same had happened to the ones who had been attacking Carlisle and Edward.
'Go, I've got this.' Alec said from behind me. I turned around and gave him a curt nod before heading off to another part of the battle. Carlisle would help Esme so I didn't have to worry about that. Melody followed me as I flew towards the part where the wolfs and Serena were fighting. The battle there wasn't going as well as I had hoped for and they could definitely use some help.
The black Alpha nodded his head in acknowledgement as we flew past, but I didn't have time to do the same. My eyes were set on a group of three phoenixes who were attacking one wolf at the same time. On the other side was a slightly smaller grey wolf who was fending off two phoenixes and wasn't doing so well. I glanced at Melody quickly which she understood. She nodded once and flew off to help the smaller grey wolf.
I focussed on the group of three phoenixes again and send a large dose of pain in their direction. The phoenixes crumbled down in an instant which gave the wolf time to recover a bit. I quickly took out one phoenix, but wasn't in time to take out another. These phoenixes were strong and were fighting my influence on them. One of them had gotten over the pain I had sent her and readied herself to attack me. I crouched down as well, but kept the other phoenix in my sight so that I wouldn't be open for a surprise attack.
The other phoenix noticed this and a smirk appeared on her face. I didn't like this one bit, but had no choice to think about this as the female chose this moment to attack. The attack was faster and more precise than I had ever seen anyone attack in my life. I didn't have any time to react and her first punch was true and hard. I flew back fast, but managed to flip myself and land quickly… or so I thought. I was about to put my feet down when someone else's foot landed in my stomach. I doubled over at which point a hand grabbed my throat and pulled me up. 'You are nothing.' The female all but spat. 'How dare you defy the Master like this. Well, I'm going to make sure that you won't go against him ever again.' The phoenix squeezed her hand tighter and tighter and no matter what I did, I couldn't get loose.
Melody… I… ― I couldn't finish my mental sentence as at that moment the female who was holding me was shoved to the side. She released me in the process and I quickly looked around to see what had happened. I was met by the wolfish grin of Seth who was proud of himself at the moment, probably for helping me. 'Thanks, Seth.' I said before quickly telling Melody I was okay.
I didn't have any time do think of do something else as the female had already recovered from Seth's surprise attack. This time she motioned for the other phoenix to join her as she crouched down again in front of Seth and me. The male phoenix did the same and the four of us began to circle each other to find an opening.
The male phoenix was the first to attack, but his attack was expected. He had become impatient quickly and would have attacked sooner or later. The big guy shot a couple of fireballs into our direction, but I quickly blasted them out of the air with a couple of my own. I quickly followed my last fireball and hit the big phoenix right on his nose a second after my last fireball had hit his last. A satisfying crunch met my ears as his nose broke under my fist. My victory was short lived though as the phoenix recovered quickly and answered with an uppercut of his own.
I avoided his fist at the last second and leaped up into the air to get a bit more space. The big guy followed and we were soon in a fist fight. I landed a lot of hits on the guy, but he got just as many hits in return. We both fired some fireballs, but they had no effect as we both shot each other's fire out of the air. 'This is getting us nowhere, is it?' the big guy said while we were circling each other in midair. 'Why don't you just give up then? That would be easier right?' 'No, I think I'll take the other easy way.' I was about to ask what this other way was when the phoenix literally disappeared into thin air right in front of me.
The next thing I knew was getting hit by an invisible force and I slammed hard into the ground. I wasn't able to get up after this as the invisible force kept hitting me further and further into the ground. I could also feel him coming from different sides as the wind that his flight created came over me.
'Can't fight what you can't see, now can you?' the voice of the phoenix gloated. 'No, but I can fight what I can sense.' I replied through gritted teeth. This caused the phoenix to feel confused which pinpointed the direction my opponent would be coming from next. I closed my eyes and concentrated entirely on the emotions and struck out at the precise moment he flew over. My fist met the shoulder of the phoenix, but it was more than enough to knock him back. I jumped out of the small hole that had been created just in time to see the grass move where the phoenix had landed.
I launched myself towards that point and landed with my feet on my enemy's stomach. 'You're done for.' I growled. I send him a large dose of fear which, to my surprise, had the effect of him becoming visible again. He was emitting so much fear now that I almost felt sorry for him… almost. This guy had been all too happy to kill me and now I was going to do that very thing to him. I grabbed his head and twisted it hard. The snapping sound of a neck breaking met my ears and after that the tearing sound I was waiting for. I didn't look down at the guy again and just dropped the head next to the body.
I looked around to see that Seth had just finished the female vampire and had been joined by another wolf. They could help each other now so I launched myself into the air again and looked over the battlefield. The battle was going well for our side, but the Master still hadn't joined in. I could feel a lot of anger coming from him and I knew that it would only be a matter of time before he would do something about the current situation.
'Enough!' the Master's voice rang loudly over the field and I knew this was because of a phoenix power he had "borrowed" at the moment. I looked around quickly and saw that everyone had stopped fighting to look at the Master. This was the first time he had said anything since the battle had started and so everyone was feeling anxious and curious as to what he would say or do now. 'This ends now!' the Master almost spat. 'Everyone, get ready!' I called across the field, hoping they could all hear me over the cheers from the opposing army.
Another glance around told me that the others had luckily heard me. To my surprise and relief the phoenixes on our side had each gone to a certain group to fend off any fire that might be thrown at us from the Master. The only party that didn't have a phoenix was the group with Benjamin in it. They wouldn't need a phoenix as Benjamin could take control over the phoenix fire as long as Bella kept her shield on him.
I landed next to Melody who had gone to our family. She was feeling anxious and scared, but determined nonetheless. The rest of our family was emitting the same combination of emotions, but none of them showed it. I was proud of my family at that moment and would do anything to keep them all save. I quickly locked eyes with each of them and to my relief I saw that Esme was whole again. 'Here he comes.' Carlisle whispered.
I let my gaze go back to the Master and was shocked by what I was seeing. The phoenix was hovering above the field now and had a fireball above his head which was the size of the Cullen home. The ball had different colours, more than the fire of a normal phoenix, and was growing in size by the second. The bastard was collecting the fire power from all the phoenixes that weren't under Bella's shield. He didn't care that he was sucking the strength from his forces so that they would be open for an attack and easy kill.
I quickly turned around and called to my friends and family to stop the fighting and gather around Bella. Everyone did as I told them at once and were standing together less than a second later. 'The Master is going to throw that thing at us at any second now. Bella, can you put your shield on as many people as you can?' Bella nodded and closed her eyes to concentrate. The effect was instantly as the phoenixes inside the shield started to get their strength back and got up from the ground. They looked around in confusion, but stopped quickly as they saw the now massive fireball the Master was holding.
'I can't reach any further.' Bella panted. 'That's okay, you did what you could. Please just keep the shield in place for as long as you can.' Bella nodded and kept her eyes closed and focussed hard on her shield. 'Edward, stay close to Bella and lend her your strength. Your bond with her is the same as I have with Melody so if you concentrate you should be able to send her your strength so that her shield will become stronger.' For once Edward didn't argue with me and did as I said. He went to stand behind Bella and put his arms around her waist. Bella relaxed visibly at the contact, but didn't lose focus which told me it was working.
'Okay vampires, go to the phoenixes who weren't on our side yet and tell them what is happening. Tell them that they have to stay close to us so that they will be shielded. Phoenixes, fly as fast as you can to anyone who isn't inside the shield yet and convince them to get under it. Melody and Damian, use your ability to push them under the shield if you have to. Everything clear?' I looked around to see everyone nod their head before heading off into different directions.
I did the same thing and flew as fast as I could to anyone who wasn't inside the shield yet. This wasn't about sides anymore. The Master had declared war to everyone on the field the moment he started creating his massive fireball. I had just convinced a few phoenixes to go under the shield when the emotions of the Master changed from focus to anger. 'It's coming! Everyone, get back!' I yelled. I flew back as fast as I could and only just made it back to the shield in time. The heat of the fireball hit my back, but didn't burn me as the fire hit the shield. I was sure that if a vampire or wolf had been where I was now he or she would have been killed instantly though.
The fire kept raging around the shield as I made my way back to my family and friends. Melody grabbed my hand the moment I landed and held on tight. I looked around at my comrades and saw that they were all looking at the flames which were trying to get into our protective bubble. The phoenixes who we had managed to get under the shield were feeling nothing but gratitude towards us all though fear was definitely there as well. They were looking at the fire as if it was something alien and some even tried to control it. It was no use though as this was the fire the Master had created and was therefore not something anyone else could control.
'I can't do anything with it.' Benjamin sighed next to me. 'I know. The Master is too strong so save your strength.' I told the young Egyptian. 'What now, Jasper?' Rosalie asked. 'I don't know. We'll have to wait for the Master to give up on his fire attack before we can do anything to stop him.' I sighed in frustration. 'You can't keep this up forever!' the Master called. I gritted my teeth and didn't reply. If Bella could keep the shield up we were fine.
A gasp from behind me shattered that belief in an instant. I turned around to see that Bella had fallen to her knees and was trembling all over. Edward was holding her tight, but his eyes were focussed on me. His eyes were begging me to do something and I knew why. Bella couldn't take much more as the Master was increasing the strength he put behind the fire. As Bella's panting increased the sounds of screaming phoenixes could be heard. The shield was retracting and the people closest to the rim were now feeling the full power of the fire.
The phoenixes who were too weak from the drain were going up in flames and there was nothing we could do about it. Everyone who wasn't too weak got closer together until we were all standing together around Bella. 'We have to do something, now!' Zackary growled. 'I know, but what?' I growled back. 'Can't you do something with his emotions? Or can't Damian control the weather and blow the fire away or make it rain or… something, anything!' Zackary was getting more and more frustrated by the second and I couldn't blame him. At this rate we would all be fried which wasn't something I was going to allow.
'Okay, here's what we'll do. Damian, control the wind and try to push the fire back with it has hard as you can. Melody, focus your power on the Master and try to get him to lose focus by unbalancing him. Benjamin, help Damian by pushing the fire away from us. Jane, help Melody by sending as much pain to the Master as you can. I will help by sending him a dose of fear and pain as well.' Everyone nodded and I could feel a bit of hope return to them all. It was good to at least do something than just stand here and wait for our deaths.
Damian started our assault by flying up and controlling the wind and temperature. The wind picked up around him and when he was satisfied he blasted it outward and then up towards the fire. At the same time the temperature dropped significantly which caused the fire to shrink a bit. Benjamin stood beneath Damian and held his hands up to the fire. He had his eyes closed in concentration though a small smile appeared on his face which indicated that it was working.
I went with Jane and Melody to stand as close to the Master as the shield would allow. 'Let's do this.' Jane growled and I could see the usual sadistic smirk appear on her face as she readied her attack. 'Now.' I told the girls. Melody struck her hands out at the same time I threw an extremely large dose of fear and pain towards the Master. Jane was also pointing at the Master and was concentrating on her power with her smirk still in place. At first we didn't see any change in the Master and I thought we were failing, but after a few seconds the fire began to shrink noticeably. 'It's working, keep it up!' I called.
As the fire became smaller and smaller my hope grew larger and larger. This was it, we would defeat the Master and the good vision would become reality. I was about to voice this when as gasp from below sounded. I looked behind me to see Alice, Zackary, Serena and Paul looking scared. 'What?' I called as I tried not to lose focus of the emotions I was sending to the Master. 'Get away from there!' Was all Alice called hysterically. 'Too late!' The Master boomed.
I looked up again to see a victorious smile appear on the Master's face. 'Now die!' The Master's emotions shifted and it took me less than a second to realise what he was about to do. Melody, Jane, Damian, Benjamin! Get back to Bella, now!' I called. They didn't argue with me, but did as I told them. I flew back too, but knew it was too late as the heat increased at a fast rate now. What we had been doing hadn't worked at all. The Master only let us think this so that he had time to activate the next step of his plan.
I quickly looked at everyone before resting my eyes on my mate. She was scared, but still so beautiful as her red and golden eyes looked back at me. A tear escaped her eye as she grabbed my hand and stopped flying. We both knew it was of no use anymore. I pulled her towards me and held her tight as the Master's laughter reached us. 'I love you.' I managed to say just before the fireball exploded and engulfed all of us.
Please let me know what you think! Review, review, review! I really want to know what your opinion about the chapter!
Almost at the end of the story now... just a little more to go :)
~Marieke~
