Chapter 12: Don't Hurt What's Mine

A/N: I felt really unsure how to take on this next chapter as I don't fancy writing such horrific torture. For that reason, quite a bit is going to be left to your imagination. I don't feel we need all the gory details. THAT BEING SAID- there are going to be some parts that are a bit graphic. This is why it is NOT for kids, please do not continue this chapter if you will become triggered. I will leave a short non-graphic summary in the ending author's note to catch you up if you need to skip this chapter.

Ember Pov: Reaching the end of the dirt road and driving into an area surrounded by mountain.

I could feel my energy was heavily depleted. The hours in the car that were first accompanied by adrenaline, then anxiety, had taken a toll on me. My plan to fight and run from my family seemed a lot less intelligent at this point because as we drove into the secluded desert surrounded by mountain, I knew whatever torture I faced would be dragged on. He could keep me here for hours and no one would know. Days even, I thought with a grimace. I felt extremely apologetic that my sister, Alice, would have to likely witness some of this torture. I would try to keep my guard up to protect her but I can't concentrate on it forever, especially while in pain. I felt utter despair as the tires crackled over the dry sand. It hadn't escaped my notice that in the phone message my mom left yelling my name, she had called me Cullen. While it saddened me to think that I would be the cause of her losing another child, I felt strangely freed. I didn't belong to my father anymore. With that realization, I no longer felt the need to submit to his authority. Of course, he could force me, but I won't give in easily this time. I want my family to know I at least fought.

"Stop." The short command startled me and I stopped a little more abruptly than expected, earning me a quick and rough shove against my door. He put the car in park for me and waited until I had handed him the keys to open his door. He got out and before I could open my door he had reached in and grabbed me by my neck and hair. The pain made me cry out as he dragged me across the center console and dumped me at his feet.

"Get up!" He barked at me. I quickly did as I was told but ducked away from the hand that reached to grip my throat. Anger flashed in his eyes. Suddenly water from behind him somewhere surged forward and stopped by him. I was confused and realized there must be a water source somewhere around these mountains. I did, however, note that it must be skimpy if he wasn't using it on me full force. I began to realize we were much more evenly matched out here. While he had the advantage of seclusion, I had the advantage of heat. It was nearing dusk but the sun was still beating down. I could see my father sweating.

"You will not defy me." He said in fake calmness. He then ordered me forward and toward some rocks. He had me sit on one facing him with my hands in the air. He then moved back to the car to retrieve a bag he had brought with him. In my surprise I had failed to notice it. He pulled out its contents and my adrenaline spiked again. He had packed various items that he would either use to beat me or dispose of my body. I was disgusted. Before this moment I think a small part of me wanted to believe he wouldn't kill me. That there was some tiny level of empathy for his only child. At this moment my feelings were nothing but rage. It was a calm calculating rage. I could feel my hair hot around me, likely in small flames. My throat felt tight and my face was flushed. At this moment I was purely primal. I would do anything to survive. Even kill my own father. No, he wasn't my father. He was nothing more than a disgusting, despicable, disgrace for a being. Any and all loyalty or empathy I felt for him left my body. He would pay.

As he was distracted I reached into my pocket where I had stored some matches in preparation for my original plan, and struck one against the rock, timed with him tossing something aside. The flame sizzled and I dropped it quickly onto the dry brush by the rock I was seated at. He was still distracted as it caught flame. I smiled and used my power to assist it. I saw my father pause, clearly smelling the smoke. He turned quickly, angry and was that…yes…slightly fearful.

The vision he saw when he turned was me, standing now, surrounded by flames as tall as I was. They were growing bigger by the second. My eyes smoldered an angry red-orange and my smile was borderline feral.

He flung his water at me and it doused some of the flames, not enough, though. At this point he could see I was done submitting and it would be a battle. He took on a defensive stance as did I. Suddenly; we were both in a dome made of water. The surprise of it allowed Adrian, I refused to think of him as even my father anymore, to spring forward and shove me over the rocks. I heard a snap as I reached back to break my fall. My wrist had landed on a rock and took the brunt of my fall. I didn't feel the pain, yet, but I knew it was most likely broken. As he jumped over my fallen body, my arm reached up to shove him away and the same force that had closed my bedroom door back at my home flung my father backward. I didn't have time to question this newly found ability, I quickly got myself up and back on the defense.

"Found a new little trick did you? Listen here you will never be able to beat me. I OWN you. I MADE you and I will END you." He spoke with such hatred, yet it didn't sting me as it once did. I no longer cared how or why he didn't love me. Knowing these might be the last few moments of my life, I decided to talk back and say what I thought.

"You don't own me. You may have made me but you aren't my father. Carlisle Cullen is and you may kill me now but don't think your life will be much longer." I threatened, knowing that I actually hoped they would let it go. I didn't want any power he might have to be able to hurt them. I didn't know if he could and I didn't want to find out.

Our voices echoed in the dome, which was glittery in a magical sort of way. I couldn't see through it and the glitters hinted to me that this was his shield. He was cutting me off from the world. If someone was here, they would be able to see though it, but I was completely and utterly alone with him from the inside, cut off from the bright sun that was my biggest source of energy. Even now, I could feel the flames losing their strength. He knew what he was doing, that's for sure. Smothering my fire.

Carlisle Pov:

The two cars my family and I were in skidded to halt in front of a large water dome. It was like nothing I had seen in my almost four hundred years. Inside I could see Ember and Adrian. I could hear them as well, though without vampire hearing it would be too muffled. I raced forward, only to find the dome was impenetrable. When I tried to break through it, I was pushed back. The rest of my family quickly realized this as well.

I looked over my daughter and saw that she held her left wrist against her center, indicating it was hurt. I felt so helpless. How could I get through? We all helplessly raced around the dome looking for weak points, growling when we found none. Alice even leaped onto the top of it only to be flung off. I looked to her, nervous that he had harmed another one of my daughters, but she was just fine. We were helpless spectators. All we could do was watch.

"Ember c'mon! Fight back!" I heard Jasper growl desperately. He must feel overwhelmed with everyone's emotion.

"Daddy I can't see her future, she is shielded." Alice let out a cry.

We all stood around the dome, hoping that Adrian might lose his concentration and leave an opening. The flames around Ember died out. My heart constricted.

We all listened and watched, helpless.

Ember Pov:

"Yeah? And where are they now?" Adrian spit out. "They aren't going to care. I am going to make you see that you are worthless. I knew from the moment you were born you were a disappointment. Any power I passed onto you was wasted. Did you ever question why I hated you? You're weak and you will always be weak. If you think that family of vampires, soulless creatures anyway, care for you then I clearly haven't proven to you how utterly worthless you are. But I will show you now."

At his words, my energy depleted even more. He was voicing my greatest fears and confirming them. How could the Cullen's love me? I was broken and the one who made me was pure evil. His blood ran through my veins, and it was poison. If I wasn't so lost in my depressing thoughts, I would have heard what Adrian heard that made him glance to his right. The muffled growls. Instead, I stared at Adrian with empty eyes. I felt like my head was swimming. I wanted to die at this point. I didn't want to win because I would only have to face my family again, knowing that I caused them nothing but pain. I only wanted it to be quick. I had to piss him off so it would be quick. Make it quick. Be quick. Dear God, please just be Quick. I repeated this in my head.

I lifted my arm and with my last but of energy I launched weak flames at Adrian. My attempt partly worked as he focused back on me with rage filled eyes, easily diverting my flames off to the side.

"Weak." He spat at me again. "When I am done with you, I am gonna take care of that family you are so fond of."

Time stood still. My worst fear is that he would hurt my family. That is why I had made the trip down here and took precaution to make sure they didn't suspect my trip. Protective was not even an ounce of what I felt in this very moment. I felt the adrenaline and fight reenter my body, a hundred times stronger than before. My whole body felt like it was on fire and, from what I could see, it was.

"You. Won't. Go NEAR them." I said in a firm and fiery filled voice.

"Oh wont I-" He began to taunt but he couldn't get the rest out as I raised my hand and sent a strong gust of hot wind at him, knocking him down. The dome around us thinned, and then thickened once more as he worked to get up. I went to tackle him down in pure rage but he was more skilled. We ended up in a physical brawl. Flames and water swirled around each other almost in compliment. Not one overpowering the other as of yet. I tried to shove him back down but he swept my feet out from under me and then lunged forward. He had me pinned and punched me. I felt the blood pour out of my nose but I couldn't feel the pain yet. He raised his fist again and I brought my knee up hard aiming for the groin. He crumpled to the side but as I moved to stand he grabbed onto my ankle and pulled me back down. I grunted and kicked hard, meeting some part of him as he yelped. I then flipped over to gain sight of him. He had reached over and grabbed a rock and swung as I kicked up, my flexibility allowing my foot to meet his chin. My vision blurred and I fell all the way down as the rock collided with my head. As I felt water run over me, suffocating me, my vision went black and all I heard was silence. My last thought was "Please don't hurt my family."

Carlisle Pov:

I was no longer the gentle compassionate Carlisle most knew me as. I was in pure fury. This man was harming one of MY children. Part of MY coven. My vampire instinct being brought forward at the same time as my protective fatherly instinct was meant pure trouble for Adrian. He wouldn't make it out of this alive, much as that normally went against my nature.

A furious growl erupted from each member of my family as he attacked Ember. When the rock met her head, I knew she might have a concussion. The blow would have been more deadly, however, she landed her kick to his chin just before, taking away a good deal of his power behind the swing. The kick happened, a second later the rock hitting Ember happened, and a couple seconds after that, the pain registered in Adrian. His concentration was then fully refocused on his pain. The dome fell, drenching Ember and Adrian, I noted in the back of my mind that the water wouldn't be cold enough to harm her out here but it wouldn't help. There was less than a second after the dome fell before Adrian was no longer able to Harm Ember. Even Edward being the fastest, couldn't beat me to him. He was executed before he even gathered what happened. For the first time in my almost 400 years, I felt no remorse or loss at the ending of a life. I don't know what I must have looked like to the others in that moment, but none of them looked surprised. I could tell they all, especially Esme, were fully expecting this result. I made sure it was quick and didn't shed any more blood. Now that it had left Adrian's and my daughter's body, their blood had a scent. I was at Ember's side in an instant along with Esme and Edward, who also had medical knowledge to assist me. The blood from my daughter smelled like sweet smoky embers, just like her name. I ignored this easily, but a few of my children backed away, watching anxiously. I was handed my medical bag from someone, I didn't look. I quickly got to work doing what I could to stabilize her. We would bring her to the nearest hospital after. I hoped Alice was already working on a story.

My heart constricted painfully looking down at her limp body. It helped that I could hear her heart still beating strong and her breaths coming easily. I was extremely grateful to find she didn't have a concussion. I would be more pleased when I had images ruling out internal bleeding in her skull.

I kept my mind on my tasks as much as I could so I wouldn't break down. I was a strong man but seeing one of my children like this is something that breaks me. I felt the same finding Bella in the ballet studio those years ago.

I picked her up carefully and cradled her to me as I took her to the car. "You're okay, sweetheart." I choked up a bit, "Daddy's got you. You will be okay." I willed this to be true.

I felt like I could never let her out of my arms again. I failed to protect her this time and I wouldn't ever again.

(Non-graphic summary for those who needed to skip this chapter) Adrian and Ember are in a water dome that proves to be impenetrable while Adrian can focus. They battle as the Cullens watch helplessly. After an intense fight, Ember is knowcked out and Adrian loses concentration. The dome falls, Adrian is killed by Carlisle, and Ember's injuries are looked over by Carlisle while she is still unconscious.

A/N: Hi guys. I am sorry this chapter took so long and isn't my best. I have had some pretty serious medical issues come up that have caused me to be in bad pain for a while. I am finally going to be having surgery in two weeks to fix this, but I have not felt up to writing. I hope you enjoyed this chapter, there is still more to come. Still not entirely sure if Ember will face punishment for running away. I feel almost dying might be punishment enough? Idk. Thoughts? Please review, I really love the feedback and I could use a smile. Thanks guys!