This chapter got away from me, and it got a little darker than I intended but thankfully this is the last chapter like that. No more battles, no more fighting (well, not this kind of fighting), and no more angry siblings. Just a bunch of good fun and chaos like promised and needed. I have technically four more chapters left.
If there's like any mistake in here, definitely let me know. As hard as I try, I cannot always catch the little typos or stray sentences. I'm only human (sort of.)
Bella dropped to her knees and leaned back as a pillar flew over her head. She twisted and flipped up on her hands as the tip of her sister's spear pierced the stone where her body once was. Bella grunted and pushed herself off the ground, stepping on her sister's helmet to propel herself across the temple. She crashed into the wall and punched through the stone to find a grip. Blood dripped from Bella's broken nose down her chin, and it splattered to the floor. The sound, as insignificant as it was, echoed in her ears as she glared down at Dalilah. Both had managed to get one good hit in before it became a game of ducking and dodging.
"You will never be a match for me! Demon or otherwise," Dalilah growled.
Bella smiled crookedly and said, "Prove it."
Dalilah roared in anger and pushed off the ground. Bella had no sword nor ax, both somewhere under the rubble of the building, but after a few months with Emmett, she learned you don't always need a weapon to cause someone pain. Bella waited until the last minute before she let go of the wall and grabbed her sister's ankle in her descent. Bella tugged hard and swung her in the opposite direction. Dalilah crashed through the remaining wall, bringing it down on her head, and Bella landed softly on her feet. She held out her hand, summoning her sword from the depths of the ruins, and caught it in enough time to block the blade aimed for her head. Bella kicked Dalilah's leg to get a bit of breathing room. Dalilah recovered easily, and the sounds of sword against sword filled the room.
Like before, neither one conceded to the other. Bella was not as proficient as her siblings in sword-fighting. Still, Dalilah ensured Bella's magic would be useless against her the moment Bella arrived. The red stone hanging above their heads glowed from every spell Bella cast before realizing what was happening. The goal was to shatter it, but Dalilah was no fool. She kept Bella on the ground and distracted. Dalilah forced Bella back and back until she tripped over the remnants of a throne and fell to the ground. Her sword twisted at the right angle to prevent Dalilah from stabbing her in the torso, but the angle was hard to maintain. Bella felt the blade pierce the top layer of her stomach, and she ground her teeth. Dalilah paused long enough to stomp on Bella's leg, and the sudden pain caused Bella to lose her grip momentarily. The sword went deeper, and the blood dripped down her side to the concrete.
Dalilah smirked wickedly and pressed down harder. Bella refused to cry out as the blade continued to make its way through her body.
"Your arrogance has cost you," Dalilah whispered.
Bella ignored the taunting and stared at the stone just above Dalilah's head. Without that magic stored inside, Bella wouldn't be able to survive. She sighed as the pain had become numbing. She had no reason to waste energy in delaying the inevitable. Bella should've been paying attention to her surroundings. Dalilah was backing her up on purpose. Scoffing inwardly, Bella shifted her good leg under Dalilah. She knew the sword's angle wouldn't do much damage as it was through muscle and not organs, so Bella stopped fighting it. Dalilah's eyes widened when the blade went straight through Bella into the stone with no resistance. Bella gritted her teeth and let her sword fall out of her hands to the side. An idea went through Bella's mind, and she subtly placed her hands flat on the ground beside her.
"Why do you hate me so much?" she murmured.
Dalilah seemed confused and said, "Do you really not know?"
"If I did, I would not have asked."
"You had everything. I was born mere seconds after you, and yet I was given nothing. Father treated you like a God while I was an afterthought."
"Sounds like your beef should be with Him, not me."
"Beef?"
"Human thing," Bella laughed, but she stopped when her body protested the movement.
Dalilah used the sword as leverage as she stood up, and Bella seethed at the unnecessary action.
"You are so infuriating! You have the entire world at your fingertips-
"I did not ask for any of this!" Bella shouted. "You immortalized me! You martyred me! You condemned me! For what? Power? You have it! You always have! Yet you stand there lamenting over a status that I did not give myself."
"Then give it to me!" Dalilah shouted.
"What?"
"Relinquish your status, and I will let you live."
Bella stared at her sister in disbelief. "Are you out of your mind?" she exclaimed. "It would make me human, and my body will age in rapid succession. I would be bones and dust before I hit the Earth."
"That is not my concern. You either die up here as you are or die as you should be down there. Those are your only options."
"I should have killed you centuries ago," Bella sighed, closing her eyes.
"But now you are the one slowly dying when you can end it all with one simple word."
"Which is?"
"Yes. All you have to do is say yes."
"Not happening," Bella murmured.
"Fine. Then I shall watch you die, and it will be my greatest accomplishment."
Bella smirked but said nothing else. While Dalilah was talking, Bella drew small symbols in the dirt near her body, old magic a witch taught her many moons ago. Bella sent a mental thank you to Angela's ancestor, wherever she might be, and focused her magic into her fingertips and muttered the spells in her mind. Bella thought about Rosalie, about Charlie, about Emmett and Alice, about Seth and Leah, about Angela, and she thought about her children. She thought about her bloodline, past, and present, and Bella thought about the life she wanted with Rosalie. Marriage. Adopting children of their own. Exploring the world for however long they desired. She thought about Alice and Emmett, about Charlie and Esme, and she even thought about Marcus. Bella had a family to live for and a family to fight for, all of whom were waiting on her to return. She couldn't give up, and the small amount of pain coursing through her body was nothing compared to the thought of never seeing them again.
Never seeing Rosalie again.
Her heart clenched at the notion, and Bella felt tears in her eyes. She'd heard Rosalie's cries each day she was in Hell, and Bella could hear them now. Pleading with her to come home, survive and return to her, and tell her repeatedly how much she loved her. Rosalie was her everything, her life, her death, her beginning, and end, and Bella would spend the rest of their lives making up to her the amount of shit she's put her through. Her heart may beat in her chest, but it belonged to her mate. And as long as it continued to beat, Bella would honor its calling. She finished the last symbol and took slow deep breaths to mimic death.
Bella heard Dalilah come closer, her booted steps scuffing the dirt, but the runes had been set, and the spells had been cast. Bella opened her eyes just as Dalilah leaned over her, and she grinned.
"Ignis," she whispered.
Dalilah's face scrunched in confusion, then turned to fear as Bella's entire body was enveloped by flames. Bella gripped the hilt of the blade and tugged it out of her body. She flicked the blood on the tip of the sword into Dalilah's eyes, and her sister screamed as the blood burned through her eyes. Bella rose to her feet but remained in the make-shift circle she'd created.
"Day one of Hell, impalement," Bella said monotonously.
Bella transformed the sword into a spear and threw it at her blinded sister. It went straight through Dalilah's sternum and out the other side. Bella chuckled and summoned the spear back. Dalilah wheezed and fell to her knees with a gaping hole in her chest. Bella twirled the spear and then melded it into a sledgehammer.
"Come to me, my dearest sister." Dalilah's body flew toward her as if on an invisible string, and Bella repeatedly swung the sledgehammer into her side. Even with Dalilah's screams, Bella could hear each bone she aimed at snapping from impact. "Day sixty in Hell, bone-breaking," she hissed.
The spell would only last for a few minutes, and she had no time to waste. Bella stared down at her sister, then glanced at the stone. Bella tossed the sledgehammer and smiled when it shattered. Bella's residual magic filled the room, and she easily directed it to Dalilah.
"Here are a few of my personal favorites," Bella mused. "Day 154, compression."
Bella manipulated her magic to feel like the pressure in the room had grown. Dalilah's erratic breathing grew frantic, panicked, and Bella chuckled.
"Day 276, bracing the elements."
The pressure lessened, but Bella flicked her wrist. She watched as the lower half of her sister was encased in ice while the top half turned a sickening red as the skin peeled. Bella could feel the spell on her own body weakening, and she canceled the spell.
"And lastly, day 900. Dismemberment. Though I imagine you will not have someone put you back together again."
Dalilah's face contorted into pain, and Bella, once she waved her hand, looked away. There was a sickening crunch, and after a few moments, silence reigned in the temple. Bella dropped her chin to her chest and felt the flames diminish. The wound in her side made itself known again, and it all became too much. Bella hunched over and screamed into the empty, destroyed space that was once her home. The wind picked up around her, carrying stones and dust with it, and Bella stood in the middle of it screaming at an enemy she no longer had. Centuries of torture, anger, fear, and of abandonment bubbled in her chest until it was all she felt. Bella dropped to her knees and cried out for all she had lost, all she had gone through, and the destruction left in her wake.
"I never wanted this!" she shouted. "Why did you give this to me!"
Bella slammed her fists into the ground and cursed her father, her siblings, and the very magic coursing through her veins. The same magic that saved her life a hundred times over. Bella grabbed the sides of her head as the voices and laughter of her siblings filled the room. She relived the morning her life changed as if it were happening all over again. Over and over, Bella felt her wings torn from her back and the air turning to sulfur as she fell through the Earth. Bella felt the chains around her wrists burning into her skin and the lava that licked against her ankles. She felt the teeth of demons clamped around her neck, her stomach, and thighs. Bella felt the cuts on her back, long ago healed, open once more, and the feeling of her wings lying broken against her body.
Suddenly, it all stopped.
"Elisheba."
She lifted her head.
"No more," she begged. "Please, no more."
Her father knelt before her. He placed his hands on her shoulders and smiled sadly, "I am sorry you grew with this burden. I should have never put you in this position. I was arrogant and selfish, and now I have no one to blame but myself. You, the source of my fear and my pride, have done all that Fate intended. My mistakes shall no longer weigh on your shoulders."
Her father put his forehead on hers. Bella felt a warmth spread through her body before her eyes rolled into the back of her head.
Rosalie whined under her breath and skidded to a stop in the middle of the woods. She could feel the warmth of her body growing to an uncomfortable magnitude, and it made her nauseous.
"Rose!" Emmett shouted.
She followed his arm to the sky, where a projectile fell through the clouds. Rosalie pushed aside her discomfort and continued to the clearing. Alice had convinced her the fastest route would be to take a plane to New York and run to Forks from there. Rosalie burst from the trees just as Isabella crashed into the Earth. The resulting crater nearly knocked the vampires off their feet, but they managed to stay upright. Rosalie shielded her face and squinted through the cloud of dust. A silhouette rose from the ground. Rosalie held her breath as Isabella emerged.
There were no wings on her back, and while it seemed as if she had gotten shorter, Rosalie could still tell Isabella was a few inches taller than her. Rosalie stood still, confused and hopeful, but her hope diminished when Isabella crouched defensively. Isabella sprinted toward her. Rosalie braced herself for an impact that never came, and she opened her eyes to see Isabella standing over her, smiling.
"Boo," she whispered.
Rosalie did the only thing she could think of. She slapped her.
Bella laughed and picked up Rosalie. The vampire, despite her anger, wrapped her legs around her waist.
"I do not think that is how you greet a lover who has returned from a very long and exhausting battle," Bella teased.
"Why would you- what the hell is wrong with you!" Rosalie seethed.
"I missed you."
Rosalie's look softened just a little, and she said, "You scared me."
"I scared myself," Bella admitted. "I genuinely did not recognize you until I got close enough to smell you. And everything sort of fell into place."
Rosalie looked at her over the best she could, then she frowned and asked, "Where are your wings?"
"I have none."
"What?"
Bella chuckled and put Rosalie down on the ground, though she kept her close. She brushed some of her hair from her face and cupped her cheek. "My beautiful vampire," she whispered. "I have been given a second chance."
"A second chance? For what?"
"To live," Bella took Rosalie's hand and placed it over her heart, "to know what it feels like to love without reservation. To follow you to the ends of the Earth without a care in the world. To hold you late at night and know come morning I shall still be there. To breathe in your essence and let it fill me completely. To look you in the eyes for the rest of my life to tell you how I love you more than life itself, how you are my beginning and end, my past, my present, and my future, and my reason I stand here."
Rosalie's eyes filled with venom and tears, and she asked playfully, "Do not try and sweet talk your way out of that one. What does all of that mean?"
"It means I am no longer an angel bound to ancient laws or a demon fueled by rage." Fear filled Rosalie's eyes, and Bella quickly added, "My father had a change of heart. Though he took my wings and my magic, I am still immortal. You still have me forever."
The fear left, replaced by love, adoration, and all the things Bella missed while she was away. Rosalie draped her arms around her neck and shook her head.
"You are in a lot of trouble. You do know that, yes?"
"I do."
"You will have to make it up to me for a very long, long time."
"I am aware."
"And if you ever pull something like that again," Rosalie grabbed the back of Bella's neck and squeezed, "you will not have a mate to come back to," she whispered.
"Noted." Bella pouted a little and whined. "Can I have a kiss now?"
Rosalie smirked and stepped away from her. "No," she said. "I think Charlie and our children have a bit of their own punishment to enact first."
Bella's face fell, and she slowly turned to the side. Charlie, Alec, and Jane growled in warning, and Bella held up her hands. "Whoa, whoa, whoa. How about we talk first?" she asked.
Jane cocked an eyebrow and said, "Run."