Chapter 9- Protectors

"Hello Bella," Victoria smiled widely at Bella, "So you sleep with another in the Cullen's home?"

Victoria leaped across the room, now only inches from us, "You don't realize how much Edward loves you. Maybe it's a good thing I am killing you; He deserves better. Maybe I shall let this child live so Edward can suffer more"

I thought I heard Bella sigh in relief, but I must have been wrong.

I tried to position myself so I was between Victoria and Bella. Bella shouldn't have to suffer because my family killed this woman's mate.

But Victoria was thinking of me. She was confused by my reactions to her. Humans should be afraid of vampires. Humans shouldn't try and put themselves between a lover and an attacker.

Ah the suspense. It was always James' favourite part.

She was watching Bella's fear now, taking note of how her heart rate was heightened. Victoria was struggling to be around us though, and as much as she wanted to torture Bella to death, it was obvious she couldn't be around human blood without losing control.

What could I do? This was the first moment since I woke up that I wished I was a vampire. I couldn't do anything to save Bella like this. I couldn't take her and run. I couldn't fight against Victoria.

I wished I could hold more thoughts in my head at once. I wanted to be able to analytically figure out how to get out of this situation. My vampire mind was faster than my human one.

Out of the corner of my eye I saw my cell phone buzz.

Alice.

She had to have seen this. She was not far away. They could easily take Victoria.

But Victoria might know about Alice. Irina would have told Laurent. And Laurent would have told Victoria.

And if Victoria knew about Alice she was going to try and do this quickly.

Look! She is shaking. She is scared. But he doesn't look scared. Such a strange human he is.

Edward? A familiar mind said. Tanya.

What was she doing here? Did she end up agreeing to Carlisle's plea?

There are two humans here and a vampire. But not a Cullen, Another mind thought. Eleazar.

Eleazar and Tanya both started running faster, realizing something was not right. They were less than a mile away. It would take them maybe twenty seconds at this speed.

Bella would be safe. I breathed.

Bella was paralyzed with fear as Victoria continued to circle us.

"You. What is your name?" Victoria said to me,

"Edward Cullen" I replied.

Victoria stopped as I hoped she would. I only needed a short pause. Tanya and Eleazar would save us, and they would be here soon. They were both strong fighters.

"You are lying," she said, instantly across from me.

"Wanna bet Vic?" I smiled as I used James' nickname for her.

The downstairs door opened, and then two vampires stood between us and Victoria.

Bella turned into me as Tanya and Eleazar snarled at Victoria. Tanya was behind her, preventing her from jumping back out the window.

I couldn't see what was happening. For one, I was not wearing glasses and they were far enough away from me that they were out of focus. But I could hear their thoughts.

Victoria was devastated that she lost her chance to kill Bella. Eleazar had his teeth against Victoria's neck, but she moved faster than he could. I heard a cracking sound, and Bella cringed.

I wish she wasn't here. I wish she did not have to see these two strangers attack an enemy like this. She must be terrified of both of them

Tanya had Victoria's head in her fingers while Eleazar disassembled the remaining body. Tanya looked at me curiously.

I wonder who these two are. He does not look repulsed, but the girl looks terrified. We will have to kill them both. She dropped the head and tried to decide which of us she wanted, and which she would leave for Eleazar.

"No! Tanya don't kill us! You're a vegetarian."

Tanya and Eleazar both stopped and looked at me.

He's a mind reader, like Edward, Eleazar's thoughts were confused as he tried his gift on Bella. He couldn't get any reading on her though.

"Yes, yes I am Eleazar. You can sense that about me already because you know me"

"I do?" Eleazar's tone was polite,

"Edward?" Tanya gasped, figuring it out, "What happened to you?

I could feel Bella blush, still hiding her face against me. We only had a blanket covering us from them, and I was starting to feel the same level of awkwardness as Tanya stared at my shoulder.

"Can we meet you downstairs in two minutes? I'll explain everything"

Tanya and Eleazar left my room without a word, both of them in shock. They carried Victoria's remains down the stairs as if they were merely garbage bags.

But Bella was still staking in my arms, and she had all my attention.

"Bella, Bella, Shhhh. It's okay"

"Victoria is dead?" Bella sounded like she would be crying if she was not in shock.

"Yes. She is gone love. It's all over. Breathe"

Bella tried to match her breath to mine.

"What about the army?"

"They have no reason to fight us. It'll be okay"

I held her closely against me, trying to calm her down.

"I'm sorry about tonight Bella… I'm sorry it had to end like this"

She looked up at me and touched my cheek, "Are you kidding? This was a great ending of the day. Victoria is gone"

I smiled, "I liked having you asleep in my arms"

Bella blushed and kissed me, "Well we can see if Charlie is okay with me coming over for more sleepovers"

I kissed her again. She ran her fingers down my neck, seeming as unwilling as I was to stop. She was going to be much more distracting to me now that I knew how good it felt to be with her intimately.

We got dressed and I texted Alice, asking her to come home. It turns out Tanya was the one who texted me beforehand, asking me where we were.

Bella and I walked down the stairs, hand in hand. Eleazar and Tanya were on the couch, both coming up with theories about why I had a beating heart.

Maybe the girl has an ability to make other's mortal? Tanya thought

"One of the wolves bit me" I muttered,

"How can you still hear our thoughts?" Tanya's voice was shaky. Unusual for her.

"I don't know," I admitted

Did they give you any extra abilities? Eleazar thought at me,

"Besides mind reading? I don't think so"

"I'm sorry, we are being rude. This must be Bella, correct?" Eleazar smiled at Bella, who hesitantly smiled back.

Oh she's his mate. Tanya's thoughts were kind, but underneath them was a layer of jealousy.

"Yes," I said proudly. How did I get so lucky to have her here beside me?

"Are you okay Bella?" Tanya noticed Bella's calmness, "We are both sorry for that… introduction. We did not mean to scare you. We are like the Cullen's, I promise. We don't kill people" Sorry for thinking about killing you. We couldn't risk two mortals seeing us though.

Edward? Edward? Carlisle's voices stood out in the background.

We shouldn't have ever left. What if something happened to them? Esme would be having a heart attack if that was possible.

He can't be dead. He can't be dead… I was surprised by Emmett's concern. The last time his mind was worried like this was when I went to Italy.

Jasper flew through the doors with the others close behind.

"Victoria?" his voice was disgusted. He noticed her sent.

"Yeah. We killed her" Tanya chimed in,

"What are you doing here?" Rosalie crossed her arms, glaring at our cousins. I had not noticed how insulted she was that they refused to help with the newborns.

"We were wrong to refuse to help" Eleazar looked at Carlisle as he spoke, "Please forgive us. Kate and Carmen were not comfortable defying Irina's wishes, but they would be here if they knew everything that was going on"

Eleazar coming here made sense. He was a close friend of Carlisle's, and both him and Carmen would have stayed with us rather than the Denali's if there was a way to do so that wouldn't cause us to become too noticeable.

But Tanya coming here was unlike her. She is extremely close to Kate and Irina, and as much as she enjoyed our presence, she wouldn't purposely hurt her sisters for us.

Esme walked over to Bella and I and embraced us.

"I'm so sorry," Her voice cracked like she was crying, "Someone should have stayed here with you. I-"

"Esme, it's okay. We're okay," causing Esme any kind of pain was truly inexcusable. I wish I could do something about it.

Wordlessly, Esme took both mine and Bella's hands and guided us towards the couch. Emmett tossed a blanket at me and I wrapped it around Bella. She looked a little uncomfortable with being taken care of.

Bella must be terrified. She had never seen a vampire get beheaded before, and the sight was unnerving. What must she think of me, knowing that I used to have the same ability?

Everyone's thoughts began to calm down and their anxiety began to subside. Bella leaned into my chest and her eyelids closed, and I could feel mine doing the same.

"Jazz, stop" I murmured. He snickered in response.

I fought with the exhaustion Jasper was layering onto us, but I could feel it was not a battle I could win.

Kid, go to sleep. It's like, two in the morning. Emmett started at me as he rolled his eyes. If you don't, I'm going to start joking at your expense.

I groand, but I rested my head on top of Bella's.

I suddenly heard many more voices in my head, but Jasper's sedation refused to let me acknowledge them.