Bella's POV
"Renee managed a surprise attack. If we get out of here, all leverage will fall out of Medora's favor." Jack moved quickly and adeptly, showing me where to step in the labyrinth of a mansion.
I shifted Paul's humongous body the best I could and winced when I felt his ribs prod into me. Such a weakness for food wasn't present in vamps, fae, or even normal humans. It was scary to think that he was so vulnerable right now.
"Will they retreat once we're out?" Dread formed in the pit of my stomach.
Jack shook his head solemnly while his eyes trained ahead. "Renee hasn't had an opportunity like this ever. It could be her only chance."
A fight to the death between mother and daughter. Goosebumps formed on my skin at the evil and neglect that was allowing such a thing to happen.
"She tortured her, you know."
"What?"
"Before Medora deflected, she tried to take Renee with her. She had cast a spell on Renee, immobilized her... The sick hag told me all about the months she had the General locked up. She was fifteen years old."
Shock colored my skin white. "How did we not know about that?"
"My only thought was it was out of respect for Grandfather. But it makes sense... Why do you think our people accepted the daughter of a traitor as their leader? " Jack's voice was rough, like he wasn't used to speaking a lot.
We finally made it to a door that looked relatively ignored in comparison to all of the rest. Jack opened it with a careful focus that made me realize just how serious the situation was. The roar of battle was behind that door.
As soon as that door opens, we will have to get out of here fast. Every enemy out on the battlefield will want a piece of us.
It opened, and sure enough, three vamps looked up from their feast of a dying fae. One of our warrior-born.
Willow. My brain supplied her name to the horror-filled, crystalline blue eyes and blonde hair. She was beyond help.
The vamps tried to advance on us, but something knocked them back as we began to sprint as hard as we could across the wooded yard that led to denser forest. Sunlight burned my retinas that had adjusted to captivity.
As we moved, I could sense the flow of fighting fundamentally shifting. The focus of killing intent intensified monumentally. It threatened to knock me off of my feet.
The clangs of swords, whispered chanting, growls, screams and hisses grew in volume. A vamp tried to drop on top of us from a tree, before a silver bullet of fur followed by a giant black wolf sailed through the air and took the threat out. Sam and Leah.
Apparently wars could even make those two work together. The thought would've almost made me smile if terror didn't breathe down my neck.
I knew it probably looked like Paul was floating mystically in the woods at this point. Adrenaline was nearly choking me.
Exhaustion was close, but we powered through it. Jack cursed beside me when a vamp took a chunk out of his forearm before it was cut down by someone.
"Fuck!" Jack swore again. "They're leading us down a straight path." His sword seamlessly rolled to his hand. I followed suit.
We cut through a fight between a couple of warriors against a castor whose hands were glowing green. I cut a clean scourge of gaping crimson across the enemy's hand, earning a high-pitched screech. Our people quickly ended it.
The pack joined our flanks in a great curtain, followed by fae in the trees. Except for Evie.
All I could see was her curly blonde hair on Seth's back. It looked like she was barely hanging on. Even through my own exhaustion, it was easy to see why this rescue has gotten this far.
Holy shit, she hid a lot of people. She will have more than earned her place among the adults at the compound with this show of strength.
It seemed as if our people had accomplished the goal of defeating Medora's forces. Mom wasn't anywhere in the fray as far I could tell.
Sam nudged me with his shoulder silently and I quickly transferred Paul onto his back. Jack did the same with Drayer, but he still held the girl tight to his chest with one arm.
I was pulling ahead of the group when I could feel the calm begin to come over me. We had won.
I felt that way until a tree trunk crushed my legs. Heat rushed through and then the cold but it didn't stop the two women ahead of us from clashing. Another quake rustled the crushing weight above me and a groan fell through my mouth. Blood seeped.
Their moves were unreal. One had flowing brown hair and one platinum blonde so bright that it burned my retinas. Emerald green eyes shown through gold as she threw trees and beams of energy at her opponent. Her daughter.
Loud cackles broke from her mouth. She covered her mouth with black clawed hands. "You can't keep this up."
Renee grunted, but didn't reply as she dodged another beam. A long cut serrated her face, yet she still managed to look fierce.
A terrible feeling spread over. I braced my hands into the earth and pressed. The fire burned my legs. I was still pinned.
Medora stopped laughing and everything stopped. It seemed as though the air ceased to be for an instant in time. Her claws slid against one another and then squeezed.
Mom's legs snapped at her calves and she crashed to the earth. The wolves growled and people were yelling in anger. And it finally became clear that we were all trapped in one way or another by the demon in front of us. I twisted my arms underneath my body, pressing against the impossible pressure with all my might. Renee Crosse kept upright on her torso and glared fiercely at her tormentor.
"Yes, give me that look. Get up, my little warrior." A terrible smile stretched over Medora's flawless face as she made another twisting motion with her hands. Mom's right arm twisted with it.
"NO!" I couldn't help the scream that left my lips as Mom's face lost its fierceness. She fell over and seemed to shrink several times smaller to her actual size as she lost consciousness. Medora cocked her head as if pinpointing precisely my grief out of the hundreds of tormented voices in the forest. She began stepping jaggedly through the debris of the felled trees until she stood in front of the great oak that held me.
"Now half-breed, I must admit that you-" Her claws tapped my face in an eerie fashion, "are a chip off of the old block. She screamed quite like that all those years ago." Medora seemed to fade a moment, as if fantasizing about her daughter's pain were a wonderful experience. "I digress, however, that there is a significant difference between the two of you. Those wonderful fae genetics of yours have been tainted with human filth." Her voice grew shrill for a moment then quieted. "And now you seek to carry on that terrible tragedy by breeding with a dog."
My reaction to that speech was automatic. I spat blood on her boot.
She kicked me in the face. I gurgled out a laugh. "You hit like a girl."
Medora's hand glowed gold and suddenly the tree above me disintegrated. It nearly caught my jeans on fire. Next my neck began lifting against gravity while the rest of my body fought the shift in force. My airways were cut. Laughter met my panic and the new given height gave me a view of the many fae and the pack being held down forcefully by golden threads.
"Now you try fruitlessly to disappear in front of a mage! When you can't escape! You forget, half-breed," She hissed venomously in my face, "I killed that distasteful little soldier brat all those years ago, and I will kill you."
Tiny pricks of darkness pervaded my sight. I gasped desperately for air as she spoke. I scanned desperately through the imprisoned audience. There was only one person I had to say goodbye to before the dark took over.
Dark, panic-stricken eyes met mine and I tried my best to smile.
It was almost entirely dark now so I couldn't see him anymore. Panic started to fill me but then I remembered an important detail. Ben was there. We could play our games again and bring the light back together. In fact, there he was now. His golden hair and great big smile were enough like the Sun that it wouldn't be too cold for me. I walked towards him and put my forehead against his. Heat engulfed me.
"I missed you."
He poked my forehead. "You shouldn't be here, dummy." His breath on my face was warm. He laced his fingers through mine. "Not after all the work I put in."
"You mean being a vengeful ghost?" I asked, confused. That Ben wasn't mine, this one was.
"Vengeful isn't the right word. Protective is more accurate." His chest vibrated with good-natured laughter.
"But what about all the crankiness?" I asked impulsively.
"Look sweetheart, forcing myself on the other side hurts. Of course I was cranky. I turned you guys in... for a reason. A good one. And that Paul guy is a total dick-"
My eye twitched. "He is nice to me about seventy percent of the time!"
Ben interrupted me. "Bella, you need to go back. I'm running out of time." He pulled me closer to speak in my ear. "Be happy." He pushed me and my body fell back.
"I love you."
The darkness was back. But so was the light. I came gasping back through a hoarse throat on the ground. Medora had sunken to her knees. Her face was frozen with fear. It then began to crack. "Get out of me!" She ripped at her chest with her claws as she pleaded. Her golden eyes turned blue for a fraction of a second. Her hands began thrumming and cracking with golden energy.
"No. You go with me." Medora seemed to demand to herself, fiercely. Her voice was huskier for a fraction of a second... "Where'd the color go?" She asked in a scared tremor of sound. Like a little girl.
She answered herself this time. "You'll see." And then the energy grew so bright and hot that Medora ceased to be. Thousands of sparks filled the air.
Silence filled the air for several heartbeats. And slowly, one by one, our friends and family rose. Shouts, joyous and robust, filled the air. We all rose except two. Mom and I stayed on the ground. She'd gained consciousness at some point. Tears ran down both of our faces, but I think for different reasons. I, being the less injured one, crawled towards her. And we cried on each other.
Ben had died a true death in order to erase Medora's monstrous life force. He'd used my body in order to get close enough to possess her, and then he erased himself.
The truth comforts me yet burns me.
••••••••••••••••••••••
We were transported to LaPush in several police cars. The fae and wolves who weren't horrifically injured ran beside us through the trees. Paul was given drips by an overwhelmed Anna and was cleared to ride with Mom and me. My injuries were terrible, but only probably a month's worth of healing. Evie slept snug against us in the back seat. Nate drove.
We were taken back to my house in Forks. And I froze, quickly coming up with several lies to tell my father about the ordeal. I had tripped down several flights of stairs this time, Paul was beaten up by a gang for running his mouth, and Mom...
Mom was smiling softly at me. She bumped my nose with her finger on her good arm. "He knows, Bell."
"And?" I swallowed thick tears. Fear rang through me.
"And he's your father. He loves you."
I was so astonished that I didn't even hear my human father's approach. Paul laughed as Charlie grabbed me from the car and hugged me. Like he didn't see that I was seriously fucked up. Pain screamed through me, but I laughed too. "I'm so proud of you, kid."
He carried me to the house and somehow everybody else followed.