SM owns it, I'm just squatting.

We stood in the trees, listening and waiting further away from the highway than Alice had seen them running. Downwind, the wolves sat on the other side of the highway. When we arrived, their leader Sam was waiting on the side of the road to speak with us about the details of the attack. We'd decided that whomever crossed the road would be the wolves' responsibility. They had several layers of defensive strategies to prevent stragglers from entering their territory.

Sam had forbade Jacob Black from entering the front line. From what I could surmise, he had developed feelings for Bella before he'd begun to phase into a wolf, and he wanted to have words with me. He understood that he couldn't be with Bella after his change, but still wasn't over his little crush. From my position, I could hear him rehearse what he'd say if he saw me. He vividly remembered what she looked like when she approached him; looking for help and desperate for friendship, and it brought me agony. The look in her eyes was desperation. I could imagine the judgement she received from the people of this town. She hated being the center of attention. Being left heartbroken must have brought her lots of scrutiny. The pain she endured in my absence over my fear of hurting her; I was enraged with myself, vile wraith that I am, for putting Bella through such wretched misery.

Alice must have seen me react to the self-crimination I was experiencing, because she started to get in my head.

"You may have caused her emotional pain, but Victoria has been actively hunting her. She wants to end your mate, Edward. If you don't survive she'll reach Bella before any of us can. You're the only one who can read her mind. You're the fastest, you're the only one who will be able to get to Bella in time. You have to destroy Victoria."

As Alice went on my rage grew, the thought of anyone placing a hand on my mate- mine. I realized that it all centered around Victoria, the second half of James, his perfect match, both equally cruel, evil, foul, working together to ruin us all and steal my very existence. Every second I was away from Bella, every moment I stole the Brazilian sun's heat in substitution for the warmth of Bella's love and life, Victoria will pay for. It took Victoria's plotting to make me realize that my sanity was at stake, exactly as Carlisle said. If it hadn't been for her plotting, my Bella wouldn't be in danger. She'd be safe in her home when the asteroid's debris fell upon the globe. I could be with her now. Instead I would have to lay waste to a vindictive coward who targets a defenseless human! I thought I'd have no one to blame but myself for my actions, but now I know that it's Vampires like her that caused my self recriminations! Bella was right all along! I'd never hurt her! I'll shred Victoria for her part in this. I'll obliterate her! I'll- Footsteps! I whipped my head to the west and from my place in the branches I could see the movement, her orange hair against the green slowly emerging from the long slumbering ferns and brush.

"Countdown from 7, and go."

On one, I was gone. I barely noticed that Emmet crushed the skulls of two Newborns at once, laughing maniacally. Jasper took the head off a large vampire who was chasing his wife as she danced and spun around, narrowly missing being caught by his enormous hands. Carlisle and Esme fought another, as 3 more ran across the road and into the trap set by the wolves.

That was all background to my own chase. I only had eyes for the dirt-covered wastrel with the red hair. I noted that Rosalie was not far behind me, her eyes on Victoria's companion, who had his eyes on me. There was nothing she hated more than a threat to her family. I felt sorry for this boy. As he began to fall further behind, Rose began to gain. She reached out as if to hold his hand and ripped it off. This stopped him in his tracks and he bellowed a feral sound. I began to hear thumping behind them as he connected a punch to her face. She looked behind him and doubled in laughter as he was tackled by Emmet and didn't last much longer.

I lost their exchange as Victoria continued to dodge me. She certainly had a gift of evasion. I heard in her mind that she would go left, but I would see her go right. I followed for two or three steps until I realized that she had gone left, and had to catch up. She did this twice more, an optical illusion, before I closed my eyes and raced after her. I used her eyes to guide my steps. More confident of not losing her, I increased my speed and ran up to her right. Then I was next to her. Running, eyes closed, through the thinning forest of treetrunks, pine needles, fallen branches and emerging seedlings. I saw her look at me with fear, and then through her mind, I saw the rage on my face as I opened my eyes two tenths of a second before I reached out to grab a handful of her tangled red hair. I shoved her face into the dirt, taking off her nose, cheekbone, and half of her eye in the socket as we skidded to a stop.

"You dare to go after my mate?" as I grabbed her leg and smashed her body against a boulder, shattering the boulder and cracking her torso.

"NO!" she screamed, frustrated with her wasted plans. She attempted to scramble away from me but I whipped her by the leg again, and she landed on her face.

"You are over!"I put a boot to her spine and ripped the leg off. I stood on her ribs and tore both arms off, Victoria screaming in rage. Next, I separated the crack in her torso with my bare hands, pushing my fingers into the already closing fissure to rip her in half from right hip to left clavicle. I flung her other half, left leg still attached, into a tree, causing it to tip sideways and expose half its roots. The leg began kicking and pitifully attempting to gain purchase. "You'll never touch her!" I seethed between her enraged screams of protest. I then separated her head from her body, cutting her off mid-cry. Jasper was waiting to jump in, if I were in need of assistance. Seeing that I could handle it, he allowed my cathartic anger to boil over and smother her out. Afterward, as calm as you please, he handed me a lighter, and I incinerated the remains of Victoria.

I stood over her smoldering embers, calming myself. I took stock of the minds I could hear. We came out of the battle unscathed. Alice refused to go near the wolves because apparently, when the newborns ran to their line, their fate disappeared. So she was no more aware of their whereabouts than we were, and it made her uncomfortable. Carlisle walked cautiously to the road and spoke to their leader, who explained that they disposed of the newborns with little difficulty. Afterward, when the ashes were scattered and buried, we ran to the house to clean up and change. We had a plane to catch.

As we ran together my family was uncharacteristically silent. However, their thoughts were aligned. They were all thinking that they had never seen me in such a heated exchange. I'd never reacted with such hatred. As I registered this, I recognized that had it been any of them defending their wives or husbands, they may have experienced the same fury. None of them had ever come close to having to safeguard their mates with such vehemence. None of them had ever experienced the simmering rage of knowing there was a plot on the life of their other half. I decided not to address it at the moment.

"We'll address it as a family when we're all together with Bella." Alice directed at me. I dipped my head once.

Edward was pissed. I found it very challenging to write Edward's anger at a woman he blames for Bella's dangerous situation, while at the same time, said woman is attributed with bringing him back into her life. Or was it Bella's jump that brought him? Hmmm... maybe there's an even bigger picture to all of it? Thoughts?

Music this chapter is Gave Up, NIN, because Edward's misguided trial in Brazil was an experiment in insanity, and Victoria helped him realize it. And the music itself goes great with tearing that hag apart!