Shield

She's gone. They took her. She's gone. They took her. She's gone. They took her. Jake's words reverberated around my mind like a wasp locked in a jam jar. She's gone. They took her.

Jake and I were in the lounge; he was lying across the now slightly blood-stained couch and I was standing next to the window, leaning my palm against the glass. Edward was outside walking along the tree line trying to catch the scent of the werewolves but he kept moving over the same place over and over again, as though he couldn't quite catch the correct scent.

I heard something crunch slightly, like someone twisting bubble wrap between their hands, and I realised it was Jake rolling over on the couch. I turned around to see him staring into my eyes with a look of pure torture; the fact that Renesmee was gone must have been ten times worse than the pain in his leg. He swung his legs around and sat upright. The bone in his shin was no longer penetrating the flesh, it was beginning to heal, but the surrounding skin was still raw and bleeding and when he moved a little more of the red stuff seeped onto his leg and dribbled to the floor. He winced and spoke in a deep, gravelly tone, "Bella. We have to go find her, now". I frowned for a second; did he actually think I didn't know that? What did he think Edward was doing right now? My voice came out clipped and abrupt, "We're trying Jacob! Don't you think we're trying to find her?!"

"But they could be doing anything to her! She could be dea-"

I cut him off by grabbing his shirt collar and picking him up off the sofa and I spoke through gritted teeth, "Don't you say that Jake! We're going to find her!" I glared into his pained eyes and was about to shout at him some more to vent my anger when Edward walked in. I dropped Jake back onto the couch and heard something crack inside of him as I did so. But I had no time for apologies. Edward looked alert, prepared, and I took this fact and wrapped it around myself like a comfort blanket; Edward knew what to do, he would find Renesmee.

Edward spoke quickly; he voice was a mere breath of air, "I've found the scent, they moved north, up into the mountains. Carlisle met up with Esme, she's okay and the rest of the family are on their way back now. We'll go north once they arrive"

Jake attempted to rise to his feet but sat back down once something crunched loudly inside of his leg. I charged past Edward into the garden and tried to figure out which way was north.

"What are you doing Bella?" Edward's velvet tones sounded strained, tired and I turned around to see his perfect features marred into a mask of worry.

"I'm going to find her", I began to march towards the stream and was about to leap over it when Edward grasped my hand,

"You can't go alone"

"Well we can't wait for the others to arrive, the werewolves could have moved by then!"

Edward rubbed my arm gently and spoke to me as though I were a disobedient child, "Bella, they'll be here in a few seconds, it's too dangerous to go alone". As he spoke I heard the rest of our family approaching and we both leapt over the river to meet them.

Esme had already told them what had happened and everyone was already prepared to go after the dogs. We all began running north, towards the mountains where we knew the three remaining werewolves were headed; Esme and Carlisle went east, just in case the wolves had split up and the rest of us continued to fly through the sea of green, following the smell of ripe dog. We ran like a flock of birds would fly; in a formation that seemed to come naturally, not one that was spoken of aloud. Edward took the lead as he was easily the fastest, Emmett and Jasper ran at either side to check the perimeter. Alice was on the inside of the group, next to Jasper and I ran next to her. Rose stayed at the back as she was - but would never admit - the slowest. Alice grasped my hand as we ran and it felt good to know that everyone there was willing to give up their life to save my daughter.

The scent of the werewolves was becoming increasingly stronger as we approached the foot of the mountains and it seemed to encase us, as though we were completely surrounded. We continued to run but we slowed slightly to inspect the surrounding woodland more closely. Alice's hand relaxed slightly as she tried to envision the future but I could see she was becoming more and more frustrated with her lack of sight around the dogs. Jasper held her hand and I could feel the calm radiating off him as he attempted to soothe his wife.

Edward suddenly came to a halt at the front of the group and I could see, through the tree canopy, the steep incline of the mountains ahead. He turned to face us, his face holding a look of confusion, "They're up there", he gestured up the mountain, to a small ledge where a cave invaded the mountain side and I instinctively threw my shield up around us, "Nessie is with them", he looked at me with his golden eyes, "They haven't harmed her". We all stood there for a moment wondering what to do; were we supposed to go up there and kill them off one by one? How did we know if they wouldn't just murder Renesmee before we even reached them? That's when I realised – Alice could know these things, all she needed to do was look.

I let go of her hand and turned to face her, "Alice, do you think you could try and see what would happen with a few different scenarios?"

Alice nodded and closed her eyes, frowning, "I'll try and see what happens with each of our ideas", she smiled slightly as the first scenario played in front of her eyes, "Emmett, we don't have machine guns". I saw Emmett frown slightly as his plan was foiled.

Alice continued to frown and gaze into the future and for a moment I thought that we could do it, we could save Nessie. That's when I felt it. Something extremely powerful was tearing at my shield. I tried to push it away but it continued to scratch and tear away at the shield. It seemed to be concentrating on the area where Alice was and I fought vigorously against it. Jasper turned to me with a worried look on his face; he could obviously feel my confusion and worry. The clawing and tearing continued, it was getting stronger, it was like tendrils wrapping themselves around where Alice was standing and then tugging at that area with so much force that I felt as though I might explode with the pressure. Alice was still blissfully unaware; she had her eyes closed and was running through our ideas to see whose would work best against the werewolves and the rest of my family, bar Jasper, were watching her intently.

Jasper spoke up as another slash was bestowed upon my shield, "Bella?"

I fell to my knees as another blow, stronger this time, hit my shield. Edward briskly moved to my side and I felt his arms holding me as I knelt on the moist earth. The blows were coming faster now, continuously pounding the invisible shield around Alice and knocking the breath out of me with each hit. Alice had stopped trying to see the future and was instead kneeling down beside me; she placed her tiny hand on mine and spoke quietly, "Bella? What's wrong?"

A final, mighty blow hit the shield around Alice and I couldn't hold on any longer, it was like I'd been struck by lightening and for a moment the world went black. As my sight returned I glanced around to see exactly the same scene as I had when the lightening had struck; Edward was still holding me and Alice was still kneeling beside me, holding my hand. She looked worried but unharmed.

Edward gazed intently into my eyes, "Bella, what happened?"

I was about to answer when I suddenly felt my chest implode, at least that's what it felt like. My hand instinctively rose to my chest and I stopped breathing as I felt my shield contort and twist. I could feel it reshaping but I couldn't control it. It seemed to be moulding itself into another form; I searched my subconscious and I could still feel my family's presence inside the shield, except now someone was missing, someone was outside of the shield.

I gasped once and spoke, almost silently, "Alice".

Thanks for all the reviews so far!

Keep telling me what you think!

Also, I was thinking about doing some more 'Cullen Couples' one-shots but this time from the male's POV, what do you think?

Anyway… find out if Alice is okay in the next chapter!

:) xx