CHAPTER FORTY- FOUR
(BPOV)
The roar that left Clarissa was loud and fierce, far more powerful than I could have ever thought possible for her tiny frame to force out.
I laid there with my horrified gaze fixed on the scene ahead of me, a scream already building in the back of my throat when Demetri settled his irate crimson eyes on the white wolf who was boldly holding her protective stance in front of me now. She seemed to grow in stature with every snarl that left her, the white brilliant fur now bristling as it stood on end in response to his seething rage for her.
A choked gasp left me at the sight of her then. She was utterly captivating, a beauty that marveled anything I'd ever seen, and with a fearless bravery to match that went well beyond her young human years.
I tried to move, but couldn't find the strength. I was useless to her and this knowledge shook me down to my core.
My head filled with all the treasured times I'd shared with the little girl who had become no less than my own and I visibly shuddered at the danger she was currently in. A danger I was powerless to shield her from. The vivid memories of her when she was just an infant made fresh tears form in my eyes as I reflected back on how many times I'd rocked her to sleep, held her when she'd had a bad dream, taught her something new and encouraged her not to fear the future, but to embrace all it had for her. The many nights I'd sung her to sleep, or read her a story, and tucked her in an extra time before wishing her sweet dreams.
I cherished her in the very same way I did the twins. To me, she was my little girl and she always would be.
A menacing hiss from Demetri tore me harshly from the past and left me helpless again in the present as he circled her in fascination.
"Unbelievable." He darkly quipped. "Look at you-... You're really something."
The way he spoke to her chilled me to the bone and had me desperate enough to keep fighting to stay alive.
Clarissa snarled back at him, the lethal sound of it hurriedly chasing the sadistic grin from Demetri's face as he eyed her once more.
"You can't defeat me little one. I'm afraid that your bark is much worse than your bite in this case." He taunted. "You're all alone. Dear daddy isn't here to help you- and you're no match for me."
Clarissa was nearly vibrating with her anger, her ears laid back against her head and her muzzle low to the ground as she roared back to him in equal challenge.
He shot forward at this, trying to get to me and finish what he'd started, but she took him head on before he could reach me. The roof above was ablaze from the spreading flames and giving way, piece by piece as it came crashing down around them as they fought.
Demetri tried striking her and I nearly let out the scream I'd been holding when he connected the first time, his solid blow sending her to the floor with a loud whine as he laughed bitterly and stalked out around her.
Clarissa laid there briefly, her wolf gaze meeting mine from across the burning room as she leapt back up to her feet and came at Demetri again seconds before he took hold of me. She roared and lunged for him, sinking her razor sharp teeth into his granite shoulder and hauling him backwards. She shook her head violently back and forth, and I soon heard the sickening sound of his stone flesh ripping and tearing as it separated under the powerful strain of her locked jaws.
I couldn't look away or even blink as she bit down harder and started to drag him further away from me. Inch by agonizing inch, she hauled him back with the kind of strength I marveled at.
Tears dripped steadily down my face, falling to the floor below as I realized then just how very wrong I'd been about her not being ready. How wrong we'd all been to underestimate her in the first place - no matter her age. She was fierce - brave and courageous and bold- just like Jacob. Just like her father was. There was no backing down from a challenge like this for her.
Demetri screamed with his deafening anger at this and reached blindly behind him, trying to get a grip on her, but Clarissa was relentless in her attack. She savagely pulled and shredded the granite skin, tearing mercilessly into his shoulder until Demetri's arm was ripped violently away from the rest of his cold body.
Clarissa threw the offending appendage straight into the flames without hesitation, her muzzle now pulled up over her teeth as she hurriedly lunged for him again.
"You stupid mutt!" Demetri raged, catching hold of her with his one good remaining arm as he tried to fight her off. "I'll kill you!"
My vision started to leave me again as the blood pool I was in grew larger and larger.
I reached down, numbly loosening the leather belt looped in my jeans with my shaking fingers and pulling it free with a few firm tugs. Pain tore through me from the slight movement, and I cried out just as Demetri landed another hit to Clarissa's side, but I didn't stop. I was determined. Clarissa fell down a mere foot from me, her white fur now tinged with red while she huffed and struggled to get back up, shaking the pain from her and hovering over me as I choked on the thick smoke.
I wrapped the belt around my bleeding torso with another pained cry when I tightened the improvised tourniquet as much as it would go. This was my only hope in buying more time- however much that was. I lifted my head and heard the floor rumbling roar come from Clarissa, as she charged Demetri again with all the might she had, the two of them now rolling over and over through the high rising flames as they battled for the upper hand. They soon vanished from sight, crashing through the furthest burning wall with such force that the house shook from the impact and more debris fell from above. I covered my head and dragged myself toward the huge opening ahead.
I could hear them as I moved myself across the floor while the house began to cave in around me.
Snarls and hissing filled the night air as the smoke bellowed higher up into the pitch black sky above.
Clarissa and Demetri circled each other as he continued to ruthlessly taunt her.
"He's probably dead you know, your daddy." He seethed. "Just like the rest of them. At least you'll all die together!"
Another roar echoed out from her in response as the whispered words left me.
"He's not dead. That's not true. Don't let him get in your head."
I knew she could hear me as I dragged myself to the caved in door frame, pulling myself up enough to get my footing again as another piece of the ceiling above came crashing.
I collapsed back down with the falling debris and laid there in the ruins of our burning house as a nudge into my side forced me to look up and see her there.
She tried to push me upward but the move had given Demetri the opening he'd been looking for all along and he took it. She'd outrun him by seconds to save me, and he was gonna be sure she paid for the trouble she'd caused him tonight.
He struck her, throwing her backwards at least twenty feet and sending her airborne before she landed at the base of the garage door. Terror filled every part of me when I saw her laying limp there. She made no sound and she didn't rise back up on her feet like before.
"Clarissa!" I screamed for her, my throat raw enough to bleed from the smoke and the force of my yelling now. "No!"
An iron hand then drug me the rest of the way out of the house, but my gaze didn't leave her as Demetri threw me down to the splintered wooden porch below and yanked my head up to meet his blood red stare.
"Did you really think I'd let you go that easily? That I wouldn't fight that mutt for what's mine!?"
"I'll never be yours." I spat back, as the dark spots from before began to fill my vision.
"Oh, but you will be, dear Bella. You will be. Too bad for your wolf- he won't be here to see this- and from the looks of things, neither will this one!" Demetri stated, whipping his head back in the direction of where Clarissa had been laying, but there was nothing there now.
Demetri released me at once, dropping me to the ground where I crawled toward the garage, as the rain started to pour and the thunder started to roll in with an approaching storm.
"Where is she!?" He seethed, hauling me up again with another hiss as he looked for her. "Tell me!"
"Never." I coughed in defiance.
I was so weak that I couldn't speak another word when he yanked me around with his one arm and brushed his icy lips along my neck.
"I promise to drag this out for as long as possible if you don't tell me where that pup of yours is hiding. Your death will be slow and painful."
I closed my eyes and didn't bother to acknowledge his threat as the life continued to leave my weak and feeble body a little at a time.
My eyes were focused on the sight of our house in front of me, as it slowly started to level to the ground from the consuming fire and before I could blink again, Demetri had secured my near lifeless body to his and tore off through the dark woods with blinding speed.
When we reached the destination of his choosing, I heard the running water of the river and soon felt the hard landing on the rocks beneath me as he carelessly discarded me there, his words sounding muffled and far away.
"This was the deal Cullen! Remember!? I know you're here, I can smell you! Show yourself!"
A rush of wind from my left touched my cheek as a familiar voice filtered through the haze then, pulling me back from the brink of unconsciousness.
"This wasn't part of our deal, Demetri. She was to be unharmed!" The voice yelled. "Does this look unharmed to you?"
Edward...- Where was I? Was this death? Was I dead already?
I could hardly see as I struggled to keep my lids open long enough to know where I was now.
"What can I say? She's a fighter that one. The girl, too. As you can see." Demetri retorted, gesturing to his missing arm. "I paid a price myself. We've all given something up. Now it's your turn to come through for me. Where are the wolves? I want them- now!"
"Easy!" Edward hissed. "Celeste is dealing with them now. Her blinding gift requires patience, Demetri. You know this. Not too mention, controlling the elements like this is a feat itself. Hurricane winds take time and if you want this to work-"
"She was the newest addition to us and the trickiest to tame! Demetri added in frustration. "I want Jacob alive. He is no use to me in Volterra if he's dead. Deals off that way. His servitude of alliance for the new Volturi I've built is in exchange for your and Alice's freedom. There are no substitutions."
"I know." Edward hissed in return. "You've stated this time and time again."
"-and you'd be wise not to forget it."
I was half convinced that I was bordering on delirious, my weakened body tricking my mind somehow into hallucinating this entire exchange, but when the feel of icy fingertips grazed my arm, I knew with dread that it was all real.
No...
"Have the rest of them been dealt with?" Demetri darkly questioned.
"Not exactly, but in time."
"We don't have time!" Demetri fumed. "How many of them are left?"
"All of them." Edward admitted. "They've put up more of a fight than anticipated. Even with your added numbers from the new Volturi, it hasn't been easy. Carlisle and Esme never agreed to this from the start. They went along with it because they felt they were backed in a corner. With their retreat, we're down even more. Pair that with Rosalie and Emmets untimely departure moments before and we were already at a disadvantage."
"I don't care. If you want your freedom, you will help end them- all of them." Demetri irately countered.
Edwards voice took on a much darker tone then.
"You weren't supposed to harm Bella or one of his own, Demetri. We never agreed on that either. I warned you what could happen if you took this too far and you didn't heed my warning. If he's provoked enough, he'll destroy you and I both. How do you propose we stop that without killing him!?"
"Jacob stays alive for my use in Volterra or there is no deal." Demetri repeated. "I had no choice when it came to the pup. She was more fierce than I thought she'd be. Given her smaller size, I didn't see her being the threat she was."
"Where is she now?"
"I'm not sure. I was too focused on Bella." He callously informed.
"-and the other two?"
"I never found them. I think the oldest played a hand in that."
"Clarissa." Edward guessed. "She's the 'pup' your referring to. That's her name."
"Whatever- it's not important- and for your information, to answer your previous question, the solution is very simple really."
"Do tell, Demetri." Edward hedged.
"When you threaten to take away that which means the most to Jacob, his only other option will be to surrender himself over to me."
"Well, we've encountered a bit of a set back with that plan already." Edward informed him.
"What kind of set back?"
"Jacob and Gentry got away from us. We've lost them."
A/N: Hold on my readers, things are about to get bumpy! Please leave a review and thank you!