Chapter 32:
"Can you smell that?" Jasper immediately stiffened as soon as their feet hit the ground after the portkey dropped them from ten feet over.
"I know that scent… It's vaguely familiar," Emmett growled, twitching his nose every which way to get a better whiff.
"Bloodsuckers!" Paul yelled just as ripping noises filled the air, every wolf present phasing in the beckoning of the threat.
The scent was just too familiar…. Edward was wracking his brains.
And is yet so different…. Jacob completed his thought as both reached the same conclusion at the same time, looking at each other before looking ahead.
Bella?! The two boys who had once loved the same girl, thought simultaneously of their lost friend just as the person from their mind dropped in front of them.
"Bella!" everyone echoed, stunned.
"Hi there, guys!" Bella smiled. Her red eyes and the rag-tag group of vampires standing behind her going unnoticed by no one.
Hermione discreetly handed Teddy to Luna who silently apparated away with the toddler, letting Jacob breath in peace. Despite the situation, the large russet wolf flashed Hermione a grateful smile before looking back at his ex-crush.
"Looks like we surprised them," the short she-vampire said from behind Bella, taking her hood off her beautiful blonde hair.
"We sure did sister," smirked another one, stepping beside the her. Both boy and girl looking not a day more than early teens.
"Meet my new friends, Alec, his twin Jane, Dmitri and Felix."
It was then that Edward registered the grey robes Bella was wearing and his heart sunk.
"They changed you?" he said looking brokenly at the girl he had once loved. "You lied to me," he said looking at the group behind her."
"Yes, we did, and she begged for it too," Felix winked at Edward cheekily.
"And no, we didn't lie, well, not really. We really were done with her when you came over with a band of wizards hot on your heels. What we only hid was our true intent. We had taken our fair share of her blood but Lord Aro had instructed us to not dry her out. If she survived, he knew she'd be powerful and so we kept her," Jane shrugged one shoulder elegantly, as if the matter needed no more discussion.
"But if she survived, why couldn't I see her? I looked for her every day," Alice piqued.
"Because she's a shield. She wanted to keep you away, so she did," Dmitri purred, rubbing a long finger across Bella's arm, making her shiver, "didn't you, pet?"
"That's why I haven't been able to see any of the happenings of Volterra for the past few months!" the stray pieces in Alice's mind finally fit.
"Afraid so," Felix shrugged.
"Now, are we gonna finish our work here or not?" Alec grumbled, his fingers itching to use his powers over the horse-sized wolves.
Jane nodded. "Going against the Volturi's wishes and letting a human who knew too much about us to leave unchanged, under the direct orders of Lord Aro, the Olympic Coven is now sentenced to death. The only way to escape is to pay for your misdeeds and join the guard."
"Never," the Cullens hooted as one.
"As it be then," Jane smirked and brought Carlisle down on his knees, screaming in pain.
Her twin let the black smoke escape and arrested as many wolves as he could, though a few larger ones managed to escape his hold. Dmitri was in a headlock with Jasper just as Sam and couple more wolves jumped on the Volturi's guard and tore at his neck, Hermione flicked her wrist to light the pyre. Felix had Emmett pinned but Paul helped him out and between the two, they managed to throw the pieces of the second vampire into the burning pyre as well.
The twins though turned out to be trouble. It took all of Edward, Jacob, Alice, Embry and Leah to bring down Alec while Seth, Esme, Rosalie and Quil tried to distract Jane, lest she end up killing Carlisle.
"You're living my life. But it all ends today," Bella said looking at Hermione in her eyes. "Edward only let me go because I was a human. But now that I'm one of them, you are the only one who's standing in my way of finding my happily ever after with my Edward."
Saying that Bella jumped on Hermione.
Hermione threw off hexes without losing breath but Bella's shield was too strong to penetrate and so, just as she whispered a protego to protect herself from the attack, the new vampire's speed and might turned out to be too much and Bella latched onto Hermione's throat.
Hermione fell to the forest floor, her wand slipping out of her hand as Bella bit her right where Edward had marked her, but unlike that bite, this one took her magic away. Hermione felt her life-force seeping out of her as the world around her turned dark until noting existed anymore.
No sound.
No light.
No smell.
Just an abyss full of darkness.
Hermione's eyes shut and her body went limp…
The darkness finally engulfed her… completely…