Falling too fast to prepare for this
Tripping in the world could be dangerous
Everybody circling, it's vulturous
Negative, nepotist

Everybody waiting for the fall of man
Everybody praying for the end of times
Everybody hoping they could be the one
I was born to run, I was born for this

Whip, whip
Run me like a racehorse
Pull me like a ripcord
Break me down and build me up
I wanna be the slip, slip
Word upon your lip, lip
Letter that you rip, rip
Break me down and build me up

Whatever it Takes, by Imagine Dragons, from the album Evolve, released in 2017

"What the... Bells? What happened?"

Bella shrugged, before charging off to rescue one of the Eagles, who had been pinned under the large body mass of a Vampire. She deliberately folded her torn ear over so that Jacob couldn't see it, before quickly unblocking the bond. Her ear had stopped stinging by now, and had seemingly healed: as much as it could anyway. It would never fully heal, but she'd rather it was her ear than something more noticeable. Plus, a good Alpha wouldn't focus on something so vain as a damaged ear.

"Mind-twister. Dead now. We've got to get back into the fight."

She didn't move as fast as she would have liked- Jacob had done more to her then she would admit- but she charged the vampire, taking his attention off the wounded eagle. He turned quick enough to grab her around her ribs, tightening like a snare. As her ribs started to crack and bend under the pressure, she tried to use her shield power again.

Focusing it around herself, she built up the energy so the shield was almost tangible, and imagined stretching it back like an elastic band. Letting it go, the Vampire was launched backwards by a seemingly invisible force. Before he could simply sprint back- having twisted back into position- he was set upon by a team of a lioness and a cougar. The sight would have been grossly had it been a human who was being mauled.

She gently picked up the eagle, who looked to be nursing a broken wing, and held him in her maw as she sprinted away from the fight. It may have been seen as cowardly to do such a thing, but there was one rule above all: protect the innocent and injured. She leapt over the fallen form of a vampire, being slowly consumed by a hungering fire, and charged away from the battlefield that was being consumed by explosions, fire pillars, air tornadoes, shifting figures, and blurs of speed.

Sprinting full out, it took her about six minutes to get to the emergency aid centre they'd established. It was manned by one of Shadow's daughters, Sue, and one of the Lionesses who happened to have a healing power. Balancing on her hind paws, she carefully laid the bird on the table, before dashing back off to the battlefield. It looked like it would be going on for a while yet- and the casualties were still unknown.

Shadow fired another shadow ball as he skipped out of the way of an attacking Vampire who thought he'd be able to sneak up on him. It was not his first fight by any means, but it was still difficult despite his experience. It was tiring, due to the fact that he had to watch every direction and cover other people. Then there was the added worry of his children, and Strawberry and Timber. Snarling, he dove for a Vampire's ankle, tugging her away with a strength he was unused to using.

Shadows crept up and through the Vampire's body, as the sky thundered above, the cracking sound of the lightning becoming urgent. They wouldn't know if it was Bright's or someone else's until it hit. Most of his Pack consisted of people who had powers- it was just an assorted few in the other Packs. The thunder cut through the Vampire with surprising speed, and it illuminated where the veins used to be in the vampire before she quickly crumbled into dust.

There was a sharp whistling sound as someone darted out in front of Shadow, appearing quickly. They reached out and grabbed his ear, which he twisted out of awkwardly, snarling viciously. Kicking with his hind legs, the Vampire was sent flying upwards, just enough for a large bird of some kind to grab him, chucking him into a giant fire vortex that Ember was managing. As he looked carefully at the bird's retreating form, he realised it was Honour, with her eyes being a dead give-away.

She disappeared off into the sky, and he could vaguely see her divebombing and shifting forms neatly as she dived into the ground. Shadow was reminded of the fact that he was in the middle of a battle when he got a particularly nasty punch to his side, sending him flying as he skidded across the ground. Deep inside him, his mother's powers were brimming, in a way they hadn't ever. It was as if the closer he got to exhaustion.

He was fuelled with a desire to protect everyone, even more so his pups. He snarled, before leaping in, his ribs reluctant to move with the pace he was trying to go at. The vampire moved to bite him as he twisted, narrowly avoiding the puncturing fangs. The Vampire quickly changed course and grabbed his hand leg, yanking with enough force to dislocate it.

Reeling back the growl of pain and still putting his full pressure on it, he slammed his shadows on the ground, causing several spikes to emerge and puncturing several enemies, stalling them enough for the other shifters to get an advantage. He set upon his own enemy, tearing limb from limn as there was a cry of pain from somewhere in the field. There would be many more of those tonight.

If it came to Jacob's choice, he would have had more training. Well, that wasn't strictly true. IF he had been able to choose, he would have most definitely avoided this whole situation entirely. But it had given him Bella and a dead Edward- almost, he'd seen the head rolling around like a parody of a football- so he could say it was worth it. After all, minus all of Bella's suffering, they were closer together then they had ever been before.

And hopefully, sometime in the future, they would get married and have Pups. He'd previously thought it had been impossible because after Leah had phased, they'd all been subject to a rant about how her period had stopped. That had been an awkward situation, considering they'd been a group of boys. Anyways, Bella had phased, but her period had never stopped. Bella hadn't even known about the potential situation, and it had only come up when Leah had been talking to Bella.

A quick consultation with the other females had confirmed a theory, that their periods had stopped until they had found their Imprints. Anyway, moving on from that, Jacob slid underneath the legs of one of the elephants, and pounced into the air, snagging a hovering Leech. Apparently they could fucking levitate now: not that it meant anything when Jacob forced them into the ground, growling while shaking his head from side to side, tearing apart her neck.

Over his shoulder, he could see Bella sprinting away from the battle, and she seemed to be chasing after something. Throwing the head into the air- where it got batted pretty awesomely by Kandula, who should get a career in baseball damnit- he sprinted after her, barely avoiding attacks by other vampires, who were extremely intent on attacking him. He tumbled and crashed into the floor, as three Vampires set upon on him, claws scratching at every bit of him that they could reach.

As he struggled, limbs flailing, one vampire was suddenly consumed by vicious sparks of electricity, jumping from one to the others in an arcing motion. There was a loud crack before it was replaced with a hiss and a pouncing lion, mane rustling in the wind as he landed on the other, throwing him aside and bounding after him.

Number two was momentarily distracted by one of the bears, encapsulated by their muzzle as the Leech was tugged away with their superior strength. The third and final Leech was pulled into the ground which crumbled beneath him, like a scene out of some cheesy horror movie.

He dropped to the ground, limbs and joints aching, the earth slamming him as hard as the Leeches were. Standing up on shaky limbs, he gave them thanks, before continuing the battle. And if he had a little limp while he was chasing after Bella, well, that was nobodies business but his own.

Victoria smirked as the bitch fell into her trap like a mouse in a mousetrap. This field was her playground, and she was not going to play fair. Several of her army waited in the shadows, disguised by the scent neutraliser, aided by the shy yet vicious girl who shielded them all. All it took was a little bit of.. ahem.. persuasion.

She clenched her knuckles as her eyes flashed, fuelled by the delectable and strength-inducing human blood. The bitch in question came strolling in, the scent of mutt evident through the scars littering her body. Her army had whittled the bitch down, and she looked ragged and dishevelled, yet still standing with false confidence that had been lacking during their last encounter.

"Ah, Bella. I see you've had fun with my.. friends."

The response was a growl, the curl of a lip accompanied by the reveal of bloody predator's teeth. The bitch had claws- or rather bite. But the expression did go, all bark but no bite. It was to be seen whether it would be a tough battle- which it could potentially be, going by the army they'd managed to muster up-or an easy one- going by how easy it had been to kidnap her before.

Victoria licked her lips as the bitch crouched down, hackles raising as if she was actually a mutt. Waving her hand. She let a smirk grace her face, keeping her eyes firmly fixed on her prey as she vaguely heard a rustle in the grass behind her. Bella gave no sign of hearing, and Victoria realised why after briefly thinking that perhaps she was dumb. The sound would have been closer to her right ear- which was folded over, the fur surrounding it crusted with blood.

"Don't want to talk? That's fine. I can do enough talking for the two of us."

There was another snarl, but this one was much higher. Maybe the equivalent of a scream, but Victoria wasn't exactly a wolf whisperer. Bella's ears pricked, swivelling as she stepped aside, narrowly avoiding the grasp of a handsy vampire who couldn't wait for their cue.

Seeing Bella Bitch effortlessly jump on top, and decapitating with one smooth movement made Victoria reevaluate how dangerous the Bitch was. Because she looked murderous, in a way that she had never experienced. Tsking and shaking her head at the idiot, she grinned sardonically at Bella, dropping down into a crouch.

"Sorry about that. Sometimes people can be so rude. Anyway."

She flashed her grin, as Bella Bitch settled deep into a pounce, and her hidden friends stiffened, ready to lunge. Bella growled, before springing forward in almost a blur of speed. With a click of her fingers- which was particular anti-climatic- her army set in, claws outstretched and powers a-bursting.

They collided with a tremendous clap of thunder-like sound, a group of four straight on the one wolf, but they were all sent flying by an unseen force. It looked like Bella Bitch had managed to make her shield have a physical effect. Interesting. Arms outstretched, two of the vampires tried to attack her at once, with blurring speed.

She twisted beneath one, clawing their leg out from underneath them and splitting it from the body, and sent the other flying backwards with another pulse of her shield. Victoria would definitely avoid that when she got her turn- she was just waiting for Bella to get slightly exhausted. Then she would be an easier prey- to stalk and to kill. Of course, she also needed the other mutts and company to be distracted. Bella easily tore his legs off, throwing one to the other and using it like a club.

One her friends- the psychic one- used her powers to throw Bella up in the air, high. As one leapt up to catch her, hands brimming with fire, Bella twisted in mid-air, surprisingly agile despite the lanky-looking form and the wounded nature of her- something that Victoria would yet again note- and like something out of an action film, bit down on the no doubt flaming hand.

Bella-Bitch became covered in a pink hue as Sabrina- because let's be honest, it was going to get confusing if she kept referring to them by 'her, they, him, friend, psychic' etc- tried to dislodge her. But the Bitch just dug her teeth in harder, and the ominous creeks of cracking flesh just got louder and louder, making her wince a little. Bella's eyes seemed to flinch a little in pain, along with a faint hiss, but it was a competition between whether Bella's jaws would give out first, or the arm would.

The answer would quickly be revealed as Bella was sent flying backwards, an arm still in her mouth, leaking venom. The venom fell onto the grass like rain from a cloud, and like acid, it ate away at anything living, the grass almost fading into dust. Bella-Bitch may have had good strength, Victoria remarked, sniffing the air for any sign of the Mutts or company, but she can't magically stop herself in mid-air.

And like she predicted, no, she couldn't. Bella slammed into one of the oak trees, eliciting a storm of leaves to flutter down, and the splintering of bark. Bella laid into the ground, an indent deep into the ground from where she stood, and she was sprawled, unconscious and seriously injured. Just the way Victoria wanted it.

Her vampire army flanked her back as Victoria stalked her prey. Just one... one little snap of the neck and.. her revenge would finally be fulfilled. Her hands shook with the anticipation, venom pooling in preparation for the bite. Just an extra way to make her suffer.. suffer as she had ever since her mate was killed.

"I'm going to have so much fun with this."

Just as she moved towards Bella, imagining snapping her neck, a pack of wolves came sprinting out. A pure black one leapt on the psychic, as she struggled in vain to get him off with a psychic blast. She seemed to be holding her own at least. Fennick, the resident pyromaniac tangled with a wolf coloured with a black and russet colour, and both of their eyes- wolf and Vampire that is- flashed with the aura of fire.

Both became encased in the fire as they hurtled about the field chasing after one another, the grass becoming a gross reminder of how flames could damage just as much as fists. There was a pale-furred lioness leaping across the filed, tussling with Gregory, who happened to have the ability of spontaneous combustion movement. That was a fancy term to show that he could move short distances and release a small explosion when he did.

And that was how that same lioness got a point-blank explosion to the face- definitely shattering a few facial bones- but also how Gregory ended up tangling instead with a wildcat instead, who's mere presence made the temperature drop a fair bit. The one she recognised as the Bitch's new mate- the one who caused her to take her eyes off of the remnants of her army- was over by his near-dead Mate- or so she thought- licking her rather pathetically.

Victoria surged forwards, unwilling to let her chance escape as Bella got back up on shaky limbs, her brown eyes filled with pain and her fur clotted with blood. Her blood. Jacob stood in front of the Bitch protectively, crouched down, hackles raised, teeth bared, and brown eyes hardened. There was something feral underneath them, as he met Victoria head-on. She tried to dart around him to the side, but he countered that, while simultaneously shielding his bitch.

Her gift, which had never steered her wrong before, appeared to be struggling, and for a brief moment, she was trying to figure out why. It wasn't because of Bella-Bitch, because that had no effect on her before. With all the others distracted battling their respective opposition, the next logical step was Jacob the Jackass. She really needed a different insult for him. Tilting her head, she narrowed her ruby eyes at him, stilling for half a second.

"You have a gift?"

That was a new development, and one of her spies had failed to mention to her. The response was a grin, cheeky and mischievous, before he lunged forward, with Victoria quickly moving backwards, narrowly avoiding the snapping of empty jaws. The wolf bounced back on the balls of his paws, still glaring at her with a growl that was just a steady constant.

Growling yet again, she lunged forward, and the wolf attempted a headstrong approach. This would be a fun battle. Two for the price of one. She cracked her knuckles and clawed, barely noticing Bella's chocolate eyes watching with a heavy settlement of dread.

Author's Note

Hi all!

How are you this random Thursday in January? I've just sent off my stuff to the DVLA for my provisional driving test, and am in the process of applying for Uni. So hopefully that goes wells.

Thanks for all of the reviews guys! We've nearly, nearly hit 200 reviews and that's fucking impressive. Thank you all for your love and support!

I've got to keep this short as I'm exhausted, so here's the QOTW: What is your favourite thing about driving?

See you all next time!

~Cait