AN so my lovely readers this is nearly the end!

Just one chapter after this one and if I'm inspired an epilogue, and then that's it.

Hope you enjoy it :D


Chapter 30 - The fight

EPOV

We stood in a lime, the faces of my family were grim, their thoughts even more so. Bella had removed her shield to let me sense if anyone was heading our way.
It was still early, so we had at least a few more minutes before anyone was going to arrive.

Everyone was on edge. I clutched Bella's hand tightly in my own, and noticed the rest do the same.

Jasper was staring stoically up ahead, ready to fight this battle head on. His mind was working overtime, coming up with intricate attack formations and plans and weak points in our defense to protect. He knew he stuffed a lot of training in Bella and Esme but he still worried about them. That made me worry too.

I was terrified that I was going to lose her. Having her in this battle beside me was pure torture. I knew I couldn't let my attention wander during the battle, as it would make me vulnerable to attack, but I just couldn't ignore her either. I needed to know she was safe, I needed to make sure she survived. I tried living without her once… I was sure I couldn't do it again.

'Stay close to me, alright?' I mumbled to Bella. She threw me a look that let me know exactly how she felt about that request but still she gave a curt nod.

'Just don't get yourself killed in your foolishness.'

I nodded too.

'Anything?' Carlisle asked. I shook my head. He turned to Alice.

'The wolves will be here in five minutes. I don't see anything else.' She mumbled, squeezing her eyes shut against the headache that was forming. Jasper put his arm around her comfortingly.

'It will be fine.' He muttered as he pulled her into his chest.

We stayed still as statues until I nearly toppled over from the force of the jubilant thoughts that were headed our way.

'What?' Jasper asked, picking up on my confusion immediately.

'The wolves are here, it seems…' I muttered. 'They're… excited.'

Jasper stiffened then too and let out a little chuckle. 'I guess that's an understatement.' He mumbled as their feelings washed over him.

I grinned at him and nodded.

'God they're really looking forward to this.' I mumbled. They were discussing their attack strategies and some were already imagining the feel of ripping apart the newborns.

Hey leeches! We brough the cavalry. We'll stay down here until we smell the other leeches. Jacob's voice shouted at me.

'Alright.' I answered back. He acknowledged my answer and then they took their places at the agreed upon location.

'The wolves are lying in wait.' I told the family.

Bella shifted anxiously beside me. I knew she was worried about their safety as well. I sighed, hoping that they would all survive as well. I dind't want her to feel guilty and try to shoulder the blame of the death of one of the wolves.

'Remember everyone. Do not let them get their arms around you, whatever you do.' Jasper warned us all. 'Keep moving and help each other. Don't get cocky, don't try and claim a singlehanded victory. We all need each other to get through this.' A murmur of consent swept through us and the wolves let out low growls as well.

'Stay in the clearing, don't let them run off.'

'We don't know the exact number they have. Be prepared.' I warned the wolves.

They growled and scratched the ground impatiently.

Let them come, I don't care if there are fifty of them. We'll take them their thoughts were quite in sync on that one. I sighed.

I wasn't nearly ready for this. But there was nothing else we could do. The volturi weren't coming to sort this out. no one else could have gotten here at such short notice… we were on our own.

Smell… find..

Destroy

So many sounds…

I can't focus!

What's that? What's that? What's that?

My mind was overloaded with scrambled thoughts. The newborns… they were here.

'They're coming!' I called out. bracing myself as I dropped Bella's hand. I pulled her slightly behind me to make sure she wasn't facing the first of the volley.

'How many?' Carlisle asked me.

I focussed. 'Twenty… no wait… twenty two. There are two slightly further behind the group.'

The growls from the wolves were excited.

Jasper seemed to relax slighty. 'We can handle that.'

'They're completely scattered. Antsy, fidgety, they can't focus on anything.'

'Good. We can use that to our advantage.' Jasper said.

'How long?' Esme asked, slight trepidation in her voice.

'Two minutes. They're not running very fast.'

'Okay.' she muttered, giving Carlisle one last scorching kiss, which made me shudder a bit before turning to face the tree line, squaring her shoulders firmly. She would fight for her family. Although Esme was soft on the outside, and had along with Bella the least experience fighting, she had the determination and heart to fight to the death for her family.

'Let's do this.' Emmett snarled, pulling Rosalie into him for a rather inappropriate kiss, but who was I to judge?

I pulled Bella into my own arms, at the same time she reached for me. Our lips met fevertely and as we pulled away we stared into each others eyes for a moment.

'Stay alive.' We whispered together. Then smiled softly at each other before letting go and turning to face the horde.

It was time.

The vampires had picked up our scent and were crazed by the different smells and sensations raging through their bodies. They were getting frenzied and the first few broke into runs. They ran fast and hard towards us, thinking we were threatening them with our numbers. It wasn't that far off.

They broke through the foliage and barrelled towards us in blurs. We steadied ourselves, ready for impact, when the wolves jumped from their hiding places and threw everything into chaos.

Chaos we could work with.

The screams erupted from everywhere as the wolves appeared, taking a few slow ones out in an instant. Their claws and teeth ripped into them and the metallic screeching was loud enough for everyone to hear. Bella shuddered behind me but quickly stilled herself.

I threw one last look over my shoulder at her, then took off at a sprint. I tackled the first vampire that was heading towards us, determined to get away from the wolf threat. He landed hard on the floor and in the next moment I had grabbed hold of his head and twisted harsly. Emmett flew past me and threw a punch into the shoulder of a large newborn that had been aiming for my unprotected back. I sprung up and headed to the side, spotting a newborn trying to sneak off into the forest. I charged her and wrapped my arms around her waist, her arms clawed at my back but I barrled her into the ground, slamming her down hard over an dover until her grip on my back loosed.

I planted one of my feet on her torso and grabbing hold of her arms I heaved. Her arms ripped off with a loud crunch. Jasper flew by me and jumped up, planting both feet in the chest of another oncoming newborn. He tumbled to the floor after it, but quickly shot up and ripped its head off, before flitting off and heading over to Carlisle to help him.

I quickly wrenched the head off my own newborn before turning back around. My eyes searched for Bella, but I couldn't find her in the melee.

As I was about to set off again I was knocked to the side. A newborn had managed to spot a weakness in my distraction and had thrown themselves at me. I quickly turned in the air and managed to evade his grasp long enough to roll onto the ground and get back on my feet. I grabbed his arms before they managed to get around me and we struggled for a moment, each trying to get the upper hand. He was strong, his human blood still filling him up, but he was inexperienced and I used that to my advantage. I grabbed one of his arms at his elbow and using the force of my body I swung around and threw him over me unto the ground. While I held on to his other hand. It ripped off and I threw it away quickly. I reached down and quickly separated his head from his body.

Bella shot past me and knocked her elbow into the stomach of an oncoming newborn. She wailed like a banshee and my heart stopped for a moment in fear. I couldn't watch this. I couldn't watch her put herself in this much danger. Everything in me was rebelling at the sight, demanding that I go over there and kill that newborn for laying hands on her. But I knew I couldn't. I had promised her I wouldn't let myself get vulnerable. I had to trust that she could handle herself. And I would.

I turned away from the sight and spotted Rosalie struggling with a vampire. I rushed over and barreled into the newborns back making it lose balance so Rosalie could quickly grab hold of his head and rip it apart.

The battle was slowly dying down, the wolves were tearing into the newborns at great speed. Their numbers were dwindeling fast. Jasper was flitting through the battle field making sure everyone was safe. He barreled into vampires left and right making them lose balance or distracting them for a few precious seconds so the wolves or one of us could end the job. Alice was dancing around, keeping well clear of all the vampires and stepping in here and there to finish one off. Emmett was having way too much fun smashing a newborns head into the ground over and over until the shards were flying around.

Their numbers were almost gone, just a few left now. I sped over to the remaining few, until a thought stopped me in my tracks.

I'll have to finish this myself. Her voice flitted through my mind and I snarled in response.

'Victoria!' I bellowed.

She turned around, standing at the edge of the battlefield to look at me. A feral smile spread across her face as she look at me. Then her eyes flitted over to my right. I followed her gaze and saw Bella ripping the arms off a vampire.

'I guess it's time to see who's stronger.' Victoria said in a high feminine voice. She flitted over to Bella and before I could warn her, she'd planted her foot in Bella's side and sent her flying through the clearing.

'Bella!' I yelled, racing after her. she was already getting back to her feet, and whirled around, turning to face Victoria.

'I can handle it Edward.' She said, squaring her shoulders as she gazed at Victoria steadily.

I glanced behind me to see the rest of the vampires were still going, although the wolves and my family were closing in on them.

'You took out my army.' Victoria snarled, although her voice sounded more like a child whine, than a true snarl.

'You gave us no choice.' Bella snarled back. 'Coming for my father was low, even for you.'

a nasty smile spread across her face then. Bella charged her with a wild cry. They slammed into each other and the sound reverberated through the clearing.

'Yes, your father…' I heard Victoria's soft voice. 'He tasted good.'

I froze. No. It couldn't be.

Bella snarled and flew at Victoria landing a good punch to her chest, sending Victoria sprawling back into a large boulder.

'You're lying!' She yelled. 'Tell me you're lying!'

Her voice was hysterical as she yelled at Victoria. I desperately wished it wasn't true either. I scanned her mind, trying to find a lie anywhere in there. There were no images, so I was hopeful she was just goading Bella on, but I wasn't completely sure.

Victoria snarled. 'He tasted good. His blood rich and his screams… they were music to my ears.'

'NO!' but Bella wasn't attacking Victoria anymore, she turned her back to Victoria and started running.

Victoria's mind slipped then. It was a trap. She wanted Bella to leave the rest of us, she wanted to chase her into the woods and drive her towards a small group of newborns that were hidden.

'Fuck!' I yelled. Victoria was already chasing after Bella. 'Someone! Help me!' I yelled. 'They're leading Bella into a trap!'