CHAPTER FORTY-FIVE
(BPOV)
The grave finality of my current state left me almost numb to the pain.
I was cold- bone chilling cold.
My breaths were shallow and faint as the rain fell from the sky above, drenching me with the earth like we were somehow connected as one.
I dug my fingers into the muddy dirt around me and let my tears mix with the heavy rain at the feel of my wedding band spinning loosely around the ring finger of my left hand.
'Don't you give up. Don't you dare." I silently pleaded with myself, willing my heart to keep beating above the seemingly impossible odds. 'Your story isn't done. It's not over.'
The arguing between Edward and Demetri was so muffled that it sounded as if I was dreaming it now. I tilted my head to the side, as my gaze fell to Edwards irate stare that lingered on Demetri. The two of them locked in a war of words on what to do next as they decided Jacobs fate.
"You're foolish to underestimate him. That kind of cocky arrogance will get you nowhere." He pointedly reminded, as his brooding stare flickered to me. "Bella is dying here. We have to do something- change her before it's too late."
He moved with lightening speed and reached for me then, but Demetri intercepted his route and hissed his warning in reply.
"You will do no such thing, Cullen. Using her as bait is my ticket to Jacobs surrender in the end. What good will that do me if she's already been changed? I need him to believe that I'll let her go and spare his little pups if he gives himself over. Without them as bargaining chips, I have nothing."
Edwards answer sounded far away, but still loud enough that I caught the double meaning behind it.
"What if I told you that you already have nothing? Would that change things for you, Demetri?"
"Come again?" Demetri snapped.
"You heard me." Edward quipped. "Doesn't need repeating."
I forced my eyes to stay open and focused on them as Edward revealed the real intent behind his actions.
"You're in no place to barter or play games with me, Cullen. Your future existence is in my hands, remember."
"Too bad for you that I don't care. I played you like the fool that you are and you fell for it all, just as I told Alice you would. We'd rather be destroyed than serve you in Italy or hand over someone in our place. You can go to hell."
Demetri looked as if he was being burned alive from the inside out as the betrayal filled his enraged crimson gaze.
As if on cue then, a series of loud howls filled the surrounding forest and I couldn't contain the desperate sobbing cry that left me.
"What have you done?" Demetri menacingly hissed, as he crouched in front of Edward, ready for the brewing fight to come.
"What I had to."
They lunged for each other at this, their midair collision sounding like smashing concrete when they connected in a fight to the bitter end.
"When I'm done with you, there will be nothing left. Nothing but ash! I'm going to kill you!" Demetri screamed, as he grabbed Edward by the throat, the two of them battling in such blinding speed that it was almost impossible for my human eyes to follow their swift movements.
"Not if I kill you first." Edward seethed to him in return.
Thunder cracked overhead and lightening spread across the sky with a fierceness that looked un-natural, as if it wasn't a force of nature alone.
The storm only intensified as the fight went on between them, the wind soon blowing with enough gust and speed that the trees around me started to curve and sway back against it's brutal force.
I'd never been in a hurricane, but I could only imagine that this is exactly what one would feel like.
It wasn't long before the darkness tried to pull me under again and my eyes started to close against my persistent fight to keep them open.
Without warning, a set of concrete arms slid under me and within another seconds time, my blurred gaze was staring into Edwards determined face, as I was being lifted from the wet ground below. I gasped when he tore through the forest with me in his arms, the jolting movement pulling another scream of agony from my raw throat as we flew.
"Stay with me, Bella."
"Edward- please-" I choked out.
"I'll get you out of here. Just hold on."
I had no way of knowing where we were headed or how much time had passed when the next impact came, all I could feel or breathe was pain as I was violently thrown out of Edwards tight hold from Demetri's blow. I tumbled down the thick tree branches, hurdling through the air as if I was weightlessly free falling. I landed to the earth below as the breath was forcefully ripped from my body upon impact and I feared this time I wouldn't get up.
Darkness covered me in a heavy blanket that felt immovable when I tried to find the will to keep going, but my strength was gone now.
I had nothing left.
Somewhere in the distance, I heard Edwards hiss as he fought against Demetri again in a final effort to destroy him once and for all. They were equally matched in skill and I wanted to scream, but no sound left me as the darkness slowly started to suffocate me from the inside out. I was drowning in it, and too weak to find the surface again.
Horror filled me with the sickening realization that this was it. This would surely be my end. There was no coming back from this for me.
The rain fell with no relent and the wind grew more furious as nature submitted itself over to whatever was controlling it now.
Their faces came to my mind as the darkness filled me further...-Jake, Clarissa, Mason, Madison- and I tried to push it back, but it's solid and unyielding presence let me know that my borrowed time was just about up. There was no more sand left to fill the hourglass with.
Never before had I noticed how time itself was so much like water. It had a way of passing ever so slowly, like a mere drop at a time, it could even rush by in a blink, or freeze and appear to stand still. In this moment, I could only wish for the rain still falling to be more time for me. For every drop to be more days added to my life, more minutes for me to hold on long enough.
I laid there, as the many memories of my life flashed before me and I grew desperate to claw my way back from the brink of surrender yet again.
'Is this how you'll die? In the mud, giving up when the fight isn't over?'
The still small voice there in the furthest recess of my mind called out to me, while I forced my heavy lids back open with another gasp just as the thunder pounded from overhead and the darkened sky lit up with jagged lightening that spanned it's entirety in length.
I sucked in another deep breath as the ache in my tired lungs turned into a burning. And with it came the adrenaline rush I needed.
This isn't the end.
I wouldn't allow it to be.
Without conscious thought, I pulled myself upright and lifted my head to see the chaos unfolding just ahead in the clearing. I could hardly see as I stumbled weakly to my feet, gripping one tree to the next close by to move myself forward. I made it to the forests bordering edge in time to see Edward swiftly losing his battle with Demetri, his golden irises holding my own as his entire frame went eerily still. He dropped to his knees in anguish, his body wreathing there under the weight of something unknown. Something invisible and lethal.
Within seconds, my entire body was on fire and everything changed.
The violent roars that echoed out reached me from across the clearing and silenced the dark laughter coming from Demetri.
He whirled around in anticipation of the packs approach with a lethal hiss of warning, his red eyes looking back at me before he made his move. I didn't have time to draw in another needed breath before he was speeding toward me. I blinked and he had me by the throat, slamming me into the base of a nearby towering tree with his lips peeled back to reveal his venom soaked fangs.
I screamed the name as Demetri went in for the kill, his teeth grazing my skin before the rush of russet fur plowed into him with unforgiving force and tore him off me.
"Jacob!"
A/N: Let me start by saying how sorry I am for the long delay in posting. It's been a bit busy this Summer. More time to write in the coming weeks :-) I hope you enjoyed this update. This will be a loaded few chapters so stay tuned and please review!