Hey!

So, no one's mad about that last cliffhanger, right? Hehe...I might just put in a few more...maybe...

Reviewers:

Kat Smith - It's ok, lol. It happens. Also, don't worry, I hope your 2018 picks up it's pace again and gives you something good. Fingers crossed!

M - It would appear so, right? *wink wink*

Lala - Thank you love!

The moment I'd put the phone down, my first thought was how to get Stephen and Seth out of the cabin. The phone call was a taunt. Just like James, but this time around, it wasn't a direct attack. It was probably instigated by Victoria as a way of reminding me who I had messed with. Riley, however had clearly not known the implication hence the call hadn't made much of an impact.

What did make an impact however, were the background noises…

I could clearly make out the loud yawns Stephen had been letting out since the past hour, getting incessantly deeper as he got more bored and antsy.

Hearing that had made two things very clear.

One, this person was in the house. He was close enough to hurt us, which meant Victoria was nearby as well. She must've had the same idea as Book Victoria. Edward must've stowed me away somewhere but I had already sent him off to fight alongside his family. Seth couldn't possibly take out Riley and Victoria. He would get hurt or worse and then it would be endgame for me and Stephen. We would be long gone or dead by the time Edward came for us.

I couldn't let that happen. I needed to get Stephen and Seth out of the way and the only way that could happen was to send them out of the cabin. If I was lucky, they'd be able to get Edward or Jacob. Till then however, I had to buy myself enough time to get them a head start.

I watched as the door shut behind them and hopefully Seth would be able to get the hint and even if he didn't, Stephen would. I trusted him. He would be able to the needful…or at least stay safe if he didn't manage to get back in time.

When I felt the presence behind me finally, I turned, facing off the man who had been sent to scare me till Victoria got her hands on me.

Riley was an average Seattle guy. Sandy blonde hair mussed from the wind, bundled up against the cold, he stood watching me with a look decidedly not that of a murderer's. I frowned. Something was off. He didn't even seem like he was part of a large vampire massacre. I had heard him moving about, felt him behind me…

"You're human." I whispered, shocked.

The boy's eyes narrowed.

Riley was human? Wasn't he the one Victoria had first turned? Why was he human here? What had changed?

"Why are you human?" I asked.

Riley sneered, scoffing at my question.

I clenched my jaw in irritation. His plain staring was unnerving but I was losing my patience. If he was here to just stand there and gawk at me, why had he bothered to let me clear the place?

So Victoria could have an easy target…

I balled my fists, angry at my own blindness. If I had taken off with Seth and Steph, I wouldn't even be here but I hadn't known Riley would be human. Besides, now it was done, I couldn't be undone.

Also, if I wasn't there, Victoria would slip away and done something which I couldn't be prepared for.

"What, did she warn you not to talk to me?" I asked.

Riley's eyes if possible, narrowed even more as I resorted to my classic method of getting someone to talk. Goading and provoking worked well especially with retrograde hot heads. If you got them mad enough, they started prattling, just like the average comic book villain.

No offense to Stan Lee or something.

"Surprised…? Yep, Riley, I know all about your little red headed girlfriend. My only question is why didn't she turn you? Or make that two; if she didn't, why the hell are you still with her?" I asked.

He didn't say anything.

"Do you believe she's going to let you go once you're done here?" I continued. "She's going to kill you, Riley. You're no good to her after this. Think about it. She didn't turn you so she would have an easy get away from whatever she fed you."

Riley gritted his teeth as he watched me.

"You really think I'm going to believe you? Victoria told me all about how you play mind games. You don't know anything about her. She's going to turn me because she loves me. Once you're dead, there won't be anything stopping us."

Safe from what…? Victoria must've lied to him and told him I was an alien or something. I sighed. Making him angry wasn't going to get me anywhere…I needed him to let her go.

"Riley," I said, this time my voice soft and low, pleading. "Listen to me. Victoria is the one lying…to you, to all those poor people she turned who are now fighting in the clearing. She knows they are going to die. She knows you're going to die. If not by one of us, by her…she doesn't love you. She loved another vampire named James and he died. She just wants revenge."

Riley stiffened as he listened to me, his jaw clenching as confusion deepened in his eyes.

I took a hesitant step towards him.

"You can walk away now, Riley. It's your last chance. You don't need to die for her." I whispered.

He watched me get closer to him another step and then he smirked.

Without another word, he lunged at me.

I twisted neatly out of his hold, falling to the side as he brushed past, turning to face him immediately, and getting to my feet. Ok, admittedly, this wasn't one of my best plans.

Fighting off a fully grown man in the dead cold when I wasn't even sure if someone was going to come to the rescue was a stupid idea but it was still better than running out and possibly facing Victoria. My hands were balled up and feet apart, completely in fighting stance as Riley lunged again, eyes spread apart.

I ducked under one arm, bringing my elbow down into his back. It was easier since I was smaller and faster but it was still harder than what they showed you in those self defense videos.

My elbow throbbed from the impact so I shot a kick to the back of his knee caps, making him topple as I backed up. Even as he turned I was throwing my fist into a straight arc, the punch making his head turn again. I had to incapacitate him so he wouldn't be much trouble as I kicked his rib again.

He growled before turning to glare at me.

"Sorry, bro can't have you killing me," I said, shrugging lightly.

"Oh, I'm not, but she's going to enjoy it," he said.

Just at the moment the back window smashed and I froze. From where I was standing, the long corridor was easily in view, the signs of flashing orange making my blood run cold.

Riley backed up, sneering, using my moment of shock to attack.

His arm flung out, catching me neatly in the midriff before his own fist came crashing down against my jaw. I fell, hard to the wooden floor.

I whimpered as I felt my lip cut against my teeth but immediately rolled when I saw the booted foot coming my way. Fumbling, I threw the first thing my hand found in my pocket – the stake. Riley gasped as the point reached his throat but it wasn't enough to impale him. However, it was enough to get me time enough to reach the door and I unlatched it, hurling myself outside.

Riley grunted, following after him but his footsteps never sounded after the wooden porch.

I heard a dull 'Hoof' and then a curt crack.

I spun around on my heel, my eyes widening as I locked eyes with Riley, his eyes now unfocused but wide. He was standing awkwardly, half of his body turned to the side, the bones in his neck protruding strangely.

I gasped as he fell with a dull flump to the snow before looking up to see two hands hovering in the air where Riley's neck once was. Edward's eyes were furious, unseeing as he dropped his hands walking past me to stand just a few meters in front of me, his eyes fixed on a blot of fast red among the trees.

"You want her!" he bellowed, the volume of his voice was so high that it shook the land around us, making me flinch back several steps.

Victoria, as soon as she had seen or felt Edward's arrival had taken off, fleeing for her life. Edward was stopping her, for the very same reason I had tried to stall Riley. Victoria was loose cannon. She couldn't be allowed to live. And just as Edward had thought when he yelled, she stopped at his voice. Her back was tense, shaking with how wound up she was.

"You won't get another chance like this! You want her to pay? Well, there she is. You want her to feel the same pain James felt and for me the same pain you felt. Well, what are you waiting for?" He growled.

Victoria let out a high pitched wail, one that made the hair on my arms stand and then she was charging.

A red white blur ran through the tree tops and threw itself in our direction but Edwards was faster. He met her halfway, his body engulfing hers and then she was flying back, her back hitting the ground a few miles back as Edward moved to intercept her again.

They met each other with the sound of loud thunder and I winced at the impact. Victoria seemed to be just as skilled in fighting as Edward because one second he was there and the next even he flew back, her fist catching his torso.

Edward landed on his feet catlike as he rose up quickly, just as Victoria started to make her way towards me.

He grasped a tree branch and shot himself towards her, grasping her foot and throwing her down. She turned her body mid way and flew at me again but just as I was about to fall back, Edward was there, his arms around her middle, pulling her back.

Victoria didn't seem to even register it. Her eyes were wide, blown out in blind rage. The only thing she seemed to be seeing was me as she tried to claw at the air to get to me.

I backed up and my feet hit something and I was falling, sinking into the cold as I watched Edward's hands close around Victoria's throat.

It took a second, a lewd sound of flesh, muscles, tendons and bones ripping off and the fight was over.

Edward dropped the detached body parts to the ground, the blood immediately beginning to pool around the stumps and I moved further back to get away before realizing what I'd tripped over was Riley's dead body. I recoiled, whimpering again, which caught Edward's attention.

His eyes darted to me, assessing me carefully before slowly moving towards me.

"Tulika, love," he said softly, warily reaching out his hands and I grasped them letting him pull me off the cold ground.

"Is she…she…is dead?" I stuttered, standing up to look at the dead vampire on the ground.

"Yes." His voice was harsh, showing no mercy.

I nodded, feeling strange. It had been so long since Victoria had hounded me…and now she was just a mass of flesh and bones on the ground.

"Are you ok?" I asked. Edward turned to look incredulously at me. "Am I ok? I should be asking that of you! He hit you, didn't he? You're bleeding." He said.

Reaching up, he quickly wiped alongside my lip, making me wince a little before wiping away the bloody streak on his jeans. "I thought you'd be afraid of me." He placed a cool hand on my cheek and I leaned into it, shaking my head.

"I'll never be afraid of you. So, what happened?" I asked.

"Well, we had just killed our last vampire when Stephen and Seth burst through, saying Victoria and Riley had found you. I tried to come as fast as I could…but I was very nearly late." He whispered before wrapping his arms around me tightly, pulling me close to him. I felt him pull something from his pocket and soon I felt the warmth of flames. I turned to look at Victoria's body burning before Edward bent and put the burning lighter against Riley's clothes too.

"We should go. You don't want to see this." He warned, before freezing.

"What, what is it?" I asked immediately.

His eyes stared at nothing for a bit, or something I couldn't see before his eyebrows furrowed.

"The Volturi…they decided to come after all. We have to leave…now."

Ok, so I just wanted you all to know that one of my goals is to finish this story before my birthday. Hopefully I can put up the official End chapter (23) up on my birthday which will mark the end of Touch in the World 3. After that I have two other pending fics on Tumblr that are original works of mine and hence require a lot more work and time because I am going to be doing them from scratch, so I would like to finish those.

Thank you for reading.