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CHAPTER 12- FIGHT OR FLEE

"Edward!" Carlisle shouted as he burst through the door.

"Carlisle," Edward said.

I watched him, terror still in my heart, as he removed his arms from around me and got to his feet to face Carlisle. Edward ran a few feet towards his father when something suddenly made him stop. His eyes were on his fathers, serious and confused. I quickly looked between the two, father and son, desperate to know what the secret conversation consist of. I watched as Carlisle slowly closed his eyes and then to my complete horror, Edward's whole face went blank. I felt my stomach flip. He was hiding something, hiding his emotions from me. Immediately, I was on my feet facing him.

"What is it?" I asked, my voice too low. If Edward were human, he would not have heard me. Slowly he turned and met my gaze. I could tell he was straining to keep his eyes guarded, but it didn't work on me. I saw right through him. They were pained.

"We have to fight," he said, in a low deep voice.

As soon as the words were out of his mouth, I heard Alice gasp. I turned to look at her. Alice had both of her hands covering her mouth, her eyes wide watching Edward's face. I knew that if it were at all possible, she'd be crying. From watching Alice, I felt an intense amount of pain rush through my body. I had put them all in complete and utter danger. Their lives in danger.

"No," I said in a strangled voice. My dead heart was now in my throat, choking me.

Edward flew to my side, wrapping his arms around me, crushing me to his body.

"Everything's going to be okay," he said. I was smart enough to know he was speaking to everyone and not just me. I pressed my face into his shoulder. If ever I wanted to die, it in no way compared to how I felt at that moment.

"What is it?! What's going on?!" Rosalie had just burst through the front door, Emmett at her tail. I watched her eyes as they traveled over everyone in the room, and then finally landing on me. She caught a glimpse of my red eyes as I peered at her from beneath Edward's arms.

"You!" she shrieked. "What have you done?!" Rosalie suddenly lunged at me. If I wasn't wrapped in Edward's embrace, I'm sure she would have ripped me to pieces. Fortunately, Edward read her mind moments before she acted, and he pulled me out of the way.

"Grab her!" he yelled to Emmett.

Emmett was immediately at Rosalie's side, grasping her arms and keeping her a firm ten feet away from me. I felt stupid and even more pitiful letting Edward protect me in his arms. I deserved to be ripped to pieces.

"I'm sorry, Rosalie," I mumbled against Edward's chest.

"No!" she screamed again. Her voice was high and loud. It echoed through the entire house. "You've ruined everything you disgusting excuse of a vampire! You've ruined our lives! We are going to be killed now because of you! Get off of me Emmett! I want to bite her head off!"

I couldn't take it anymore. Aggressively, I shoved Edward away from me.

"Rosalie, please?" I begged. "Please, I'm sorry. I'm sorry!"

"Ahh!" Rosalie screamed loudly, her eyes suddenly turning black.

She began twisting and turning in Emmett's arms, making him crash against the walls and the furniture. She looked ferocious. She looked fierce and aggressive. She looked like an animal. Within seconds she ripped herself free of Emmett's grasp, and lunged once more towards me. I didn't even bother preparing myself. I deserved all the pain she wanted to put me in.

As Rosalie flew at me, I heard a sudden crunch from behind me and then something long and brown flew right at her chest. It sounded like a car accident, and the sound echoed through the house. I turned to glance at Edward and saw that he was standing next to a broken coffee table. The coffee table was missing one of its legs.

As soon as Rosalie hit the ground, she got up and lunged again. This time, she ran at Edward. He was already ready to defend himself. Once she was close enough, Edward through his foot out and sent a blow to her stomach. She shrieked horribly in pain as she was thrown backwards into a wall.

This time, Emmett got involved. Once he heard his wife shriek in pain, he too went at Edward. I watched, horror stricken as Edward crouched down into a poised defense position as Emmett, his muscles flexing dangerously, ran at Edward. The lion verses the bear.

"Stop!" Alice, Esme and I screamed in union.

Carlisle and Jasper were already running towards Edward and Emmett trying to pull them apart. My heightened vision showed me that both Edward and Emmett were throwing punches, kicks and bites at each other, threatening to rip out each other's throats. Both of them were quick with their movements, but I caught everything.

"Edward, please!" I screamed as I ran towards him, trying to take hold of his quick arms.

Suddenly something sharp smacked into the side of my head, knocking me off of my feet.

"I'll kill you!" Rosalie shrieked in my face as she pounced on top of me.

"Enough!!" Carlisle screamed at the top of his lungs. Everyone froze, even Edward and Emmett. Edward and Emmett moved away from each other, as did Rosalie and I. "Listen to me, all of you!" Carlisle quickly dropped his hold on Emmett's waist and sat up straight, taking the opportunity to glance at each of our faces to make sure we were listening. "How dare you threaten to kill each other? We are a family. We love each other. We must keep ourselves together and do what we can to protect this family. You all know we can handle this situation in the rightway or the wrong way. We are not animals, we are not hateful beings. Get up and compose yourselves. We have much to talk about in very little time. The wolves are coming whether we like it or not." Rosalie shot a dirty look at me, but Carlisle ignored her. "We can choose to fight each other and let them come with our guards down, or we can choose to fight back and protect our family. What will it be?"

I met Edward's gaze from across the room. His eyes were sad again as he met my eyes for a split second before he looked back at his father. "Protect our family," he said to Carlisle.

"Protect our family," chanted Emmett and Jasper together.

"Protect our family," said Esme and then Alice.

"Protect our family," I said, my eyes still on Edward, though his eyes were still on Carlisle.

"Protect… my family," Rosalie finally said in a deep voice. I didn't miss the 'my' part.

Carlisle shot her a dirty look, one of disgust.

"I am very disappointed in you Rosalie," he said calmly to her.

"Why should I care about her, Carlisle? This is after all, her fault. She put us all in danger. I refuse to protect her." She spoke about me as if I wasn't in the same room as her. The malice in her voice made me flinch.

From a few feet away from me, I heard Edward's low throaty growl.

"Do what you must, Rosalie. Even if that choice is against defending Bella," Carlisle said, his tone once again even and controlled. "But for now, Jasper I need to you quickly give us some tips on what we can do to survive. You've experienced fights once before. Do we have a chance?"

Jasper's face was serious as he looked at Carlisle, and then he turned to meet Alice's terrified eyes. Her hands were still over her mouth. She looked about ready to scream.

"Jasper?" Carlisle asked again. "Jasper, do we have a chance?"

"I don't know, Carlisle. I'm sorry, but I've never heard of a vampire out fighting a wolf. I can give us all tips on how we can possibly protect ourselves, but…" Jasper shook his head slowly.

"No!" I screamed. "No! I can't let you do this, I can't let you all diefor me... Carlisle, can't we run?! Can't we leave?! Please, I cannot live with myself if any of you got hurt because of me. Please!" I sobbed desperatley. Edward ran to me, pulling me into his arms. "Please! Please, Carlisle! They will kill you all!"

"If we run, we can never come back, Bella," Carlisle said in a low voice.

"Then we don't have to come back," Esme said, placing a hand on Carlisle shoulder. "We cannot put our family in danger, Carlisle. I know you can't bear to lose one of them." I didn't miss the quick glance she shot at Edward as she said 'one.' Edward saw this too and tightened his arms around me. "Please, dear," Esme moaned again. "Please."

"Alright," Carlisle said after a moment. "If we are going to run, we have to do it now. I suspect the wolves will be on their way very soon. I'm sorry to say that all of your belongings must stay behind. We cannot afford to take any of it."

Everyone one of the Cullen's looked at each other. I knew, personally, how hard it was to leave behind personal belongings.

"Okay," Carlisle began again, "I'm going to my office to grab some of our money stored here. Edward… I believe there is something in your room you too would like to grab before we depart."

Edward eyes were confused as he watched Carlisle. Carlisle just nodded at him, and then without warning, Edward flew to the stairs. I didn't follow.

My dead heart felt like it had been ripped from my body. How could one person cause such a huge disaster. Suddenly, I felt ease flow through me. Looking over at Jasper, I saw that he and Alice both had their eyes on me.

"Thank you," I said. Alice gave me a small smile as she walked towards me. "I'm so sorry, Alice."

Alice quickly grabbed me into her arms, giving me a very tight hug. "Don't be sorry, Bella. There is nothing to be sorry for."

"Everyone ready?" Carlisle's voice came from the bottom of the stairs. I hadn't noticed that Edward was already back, standing beside his father. "We have to leave now. Edward," he turned his attention to his son by his side, "if you hear their voices, it means they are close enough to attack. You will have to let us know."

Edward nodded and then looked over to me. "Let's go, Bella," he said in a soft voice. Quickly, I ran to his side. And then we were off.

All of us ran towards our cars. Rosalie and Emmett ran to his Jeep, Carlisle Esme Jasper and Alice ran to Carlisle's Mercedes, and Edward and I ran to his Volvo.

"I still can't—" I began, but Edward cut me off.

"Please, Bella. Stop worrying about our family for the time being and worry about you. I feel like any moment now your going to have some kind of anxiety attack."

"It's impossible for me to have an anxiety attack, Edward. I'm a vampire."

"Well, with your luck, it may just be possible."

As we sped down the highway towards the exit of Forks, I heard Edward's breath catch. The only reason I noticed was because I had just been concentrating on his breathing. Listening to him always brought me comfort.

"What is it?" I said.

His face was serious, and then horrified. "They're coming!" he said as he slammed on the gas pedal.

Closing my eyes, I listened carefully, using my powers, listening to the sounds in the distance. I could hear them. Their thick paws slamming on the weak earthy wet ground, their harsh breath loud as they ran towards us, following our scent.

"Their within a three mile radius from us!" I screamed while snapping my eyes open. I turned in my seat to gaze out of rear window. I couldn't see anything but trees.

And then suddenly…

"Bella!" Edward screamed. Something huge and grey smashed into the side of his car, making it spin and twist on the wet road, our tires squealing from the brakes. Wasting no time, Edward grabbed me by the hand and tore us out of the top of his car. As we landed on the hard ground, something hard smacked into my stone body, throwing me into the forest where I hit a tree, knocking it over. "Bella!" I heard Edward scream again, but this time from a distance. Looking around I didn't see anything or anyone.

And then I heard him. I heard the sound of a roar, loud and ghastly. It was Edward's roar. He was in danger, and I wasn't there to help. Immediately I took off into the trees towards his voice. Once I reached the end of the trees I could see the road, and on it was Edward surrounded by two large wolves. One grey and one russet brown. I didn't wait longer than a second before I threw myself at the grey wolf, gripping it into my arms and throwing it towards the forest. Once the grey wolf hit a tree, out of the darkness of the woods came three more wolves, all running towards Edward and I.

"Run!" Edward yelled, grabbing my hand and yanking me towards the trees on the opposite side. Edward, of course, was much faster than I, but he kept my pace anyway. "Hurry, Bella," he said from beside me. "Hurry, they're right behind us."

"Leave me, Edward! This isn't your fault. You can outrun them! Go!"

"No!" he yelled, suddenly pausing and turning to meet the death that awaited behind us.

"What are you doing?!" I screamed at him.

"We wont make it, we cant out run them. Where is our family?!" Edward yelled looking around. "Didn't they see? Don't they know we are in danger?!"

At that moment, five wolves ran into the little clearing Edward and I were standing in. As soon as they faced us, they paused on the spot, their breath blowing at our hair as they snarled in our faces. Their scent was thick and it burned in my nose and in my throat, making me cough.

"I love you, Bella. I love you with all my heart," Edward said from beside me. He knew we were about to die, and he chose the moment to let me know how he really express his love.

"No!" I screamed. "Please!" I yelled to the wolves in front of us, dropping to my knees. "Please! Don't kill him! Kill me! I did it! I killed the boy! Not him! Take me!"

"No, Bella!" Edward yelled, trying to reach for me; however, once he moved, a large black wolf jumped between us and using a large paw, it smacked Edward away from me. The sound of his granite body hitting the tree tore at my soul. I would give anything not to let them hurt him again.

"No! Please, leave him be! Take me! I'm the one you want!" I screamed desperately to the wolves again.

"Bella, no!" Edward sobbed a few feet away from me. "Bella, please!"

The large grey wolf snarled loudly before charging at me. Closing my eyes, I braced myself for death… but it never came. Right before the grey wolf was able to reach me, the russet brown wolf leaped forward and thrust it's large shoulders into the grey wolf. Shoving it away from me. Stunned, I watched as the two wolves snarled loudly at each other.

Immediately I turned to look at Edward, searching for some kind of explanation as to why the wolf didn't just eat me. Edward's eyes were confused and anxious as he stared at the two wolves in front of me.

"He just saved you," Edward said in a low voice. "You saved her."

The russet brown wolf turned it's gaze away from the grey wolf and landed on Edward.

"Why?" Edward asked. And then his face went blank.

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