Disclaimer: I own nothing.

Author's Note: Sorry for the delay in posting this super-short chapter. I didn't particularly enjoy writing this chapter due to its dark nature and tried to keep it quite short on purpose. The next chapter will be quite short as well but the one after that will be considerably longer AND more pleasant. If you are sensitive, you should skip this chapter and just wait for the next one, to be uploaded shortly!

Enjoy!

When I woke up everything was dark - I woke up into an all-consuming void of fear. It almost felt like the intensity of my fear was what had woken me up. I realized almost immediately that I couldn't have been out for long, but this thought didn't grant me relief. On the contrary. Now I would have to be awake through whatever it was that this stranger had planned to do with me. I was still leaning against him, but I could no longer hear the voices of people, nor could I see any lights. We were at the parking lot, which was empty. It was still too early for people to leave the party. He seemed to be carrying me towards the furthestmost corner of the lot. I still felt sick - so sick.

The next thing I realized was the sound of a car door opening - he pushed me in to the light of the interior. When I realized I was about to be locked inside the car I tried, with new strength, to escape. Like a frightened animal I grabbed the door and tried to kick him but it was like a child kicking an adult - I still had no power in my limbs. I cursed them, I cursed my own weakness, I cursed my bad luck and my stupidity. And more than anything I cursed my humanity.

He closed the door, and I fell backwards on the seat. It was the back seat, I realized. I was breathing rapidly, panic flooding my mind, filling my lungs, becoming the air I breathed. I couldn't see - it was too dark and my eyes were clouded by my tears. I was terrified of the moment he would come back. This is how it's going to end, I realized. This is how I'm going to die. I am going to be raped, I am going to be killed on the back seat of a stranger's car. And the words I had tried to avoid until now screamed in my head: raped, killed, murdered! raped, killed, murdered! raped, killed, murdered! so that I couldn't hear anything but my own mind, screaming. And then I realized it wasn't just my mind that was screaming - there was a scream erupting from my throat as well. It was weak, more like a cry than a scream. It would make no difference; no one would hear me in this empty parking lot. And still I couldn't stop screaming.

The door from the other side of the car opened and the horrifying stranger slid into the car. I felt his hand, hard and horny, shut my mouth.

Edward, I love you. Edward, I love you!

And I thought of his face, the way his lips curved when he smiled at me and the way his eyes were soft in the mornings when I woke up and snuggled closer to him. And I realized with pain that I would never see him again. It felt as if my heart was breaking. My last goodbye with him had been an argument: our last kiss had been one-sided. There had been no words of love there. If I would have known, if I would have known! I love you, Edward! You are my world! And an echo from long ago said those very words in my head, his words; words I would never hear again.

You are my world!

The man's breath reeked of alcohol on my face when he came closer in the cramped space of the car. His hand left my mouth and travelled lower, greedily grabbing my breast. I remembered - it was the same breast I had tricked Edward to cup just a few hours ago. Lifetimes ago. But this man's unfamiliar, unwelcome hand kept on travelling further, slipping underneath the fabric of my dress, pulling down my underwear. I was more terrified than I had ever been in my life. More horrified than I had been looking into the inhuman red eyes of James before he sprang at me - how strange that I should be more terrified of this human man than someone like him. And yet, my whole body was frigid, my mind locked, while he pulled the underwear off my legs. He was heavy on me, I felt like I couldn't breath.

His hand started travelling back upwards, and I knew where he would go; to a place where no man had ever laid his hand before. I felt dizzy from disgust and fear when it reached its destination. My mind was screaming at him to stop, screaming at myself for being unable to stop this from happening.

No, no, NO! You don't have the right, you can't, you CAN'T touch me there!

I shut my eyes tight, closing my mind, trying to not think of the man's hand and where it was touching me. I thought of Edward - his lips, his hands, his eyes, his hair, his everything; everything that made him Edward. Everything that mattered. The only thing that mattered. The Edward in my head was frowning - he bared his teeth and snarled at the blackness around me. He wrapped his arms around me and kept the horrible things at bay, tearing my mind off of my body and the things that were happening to it. He snarled again.

"Edward." I was shocked to notice that my lips had actually formed the name out loud. The hand stopped, hesitating, surprised. It was too dark to see the stranger's face but I felt his stare on my face, so close. Too close.

"Edward," I said again. "Edward is going to..."

I couldn't continue - my throat was too dry.

"Shut up," the stranger said in a rough voice. "Shut up, bitch."

"Edward is going to tear... he's going to tear you apart," I choked out in a low voice. And I knew I was telling the truth -no matter how tonight would end, if I would survive or not - Edward would hunt down this stranger and tear him to pieces. The thought gave me some consolence. This feeble human could not harm Edward - I didn't need to fear for him. I could let him have his revenge.

"There will be not...nothing left of you after he finishes with you." And from my throat erupted a small, humourless laughter. The laughter was cut short by the stranger - he slapped me with all of his strength on my right cheek. My head hit the seat and I almost lost my consciousness again. He pressed me harder against the seat.

"Listen to me, you little whore. I don't want to know what you think your little teenage boyfriend is going to do to me. Because you know just as well as I do that he won't. And if you know what's best for you, you'll keep your pretty little mouth shut - at least until I find better use for it." I was nauseated by the smell of cigarettes and beer in his breath. He pinned me to the seat and pressed his entire body weight on me - I knew what was coming now, as he started opening the zipper of his trousers. I felt disgust, I felt sick to the core- but for some incomprehensible reason my fear had lessened. I shut my eyes, not wanting to see him - that - while he was removing his trousers. My cheek was sore and I suddenly realized there was a cut on my lip - blood was dripping along my cheek to my neck and I could taste it in my mouth. I felt him move, shake himself. I tried not to think what he was doing. He lifted the hem of my dress, staring at my private parts. It felt so wrong, so incredibly wrong. I prepared myself when I felt him separate my legs, still staring.I squeezed my eyes tighter, licking the blood off my lips. The smell of it made me feel faint - I was encouraging it, welcoming the darkness, hoping it would take me away from this moment, this wrongness. But it never did.

Because then things happened so quickly my groggy mind didn't have the time to register what actually happened. First there was a loud sound, like something metallic tearing to pieces. There was a gush of fresh air invading the car. I opened my eyes but the sudden bright light from the car's ceiling made me blind and I lifted my hands to my face to shielf my eyes. The stranger screamed in horror and apparent pain. And then the loveliest, most welcome sound in the world filled my ears - a sound I would've recognized anywhere. It was the sound of Edward growling, the sound of it rumbling from deep within his chest. It was the sound of survival, the sound of safety. And he was angry, angrier than I had ever heard him before.

"Get your disgusting hands off of her!" And the weight of the stranger disappeared, suddenly I could breathe again. My eyes were getting used to the light and I looked at the scene in front of me. Edward had pinned the stranger against the front seat and the way he was glaring at him... for the first time he really looked like a monster. Like a vampire. His eyes were black as coal, the white skin of his face like stone, his teeth bared and so white, so sharp - his face was a pale mask of hate, like a devil staring out of the face of an angel. And I looked at the man he was holding by his throat - like a sad puppet he was hanging, his eyes wide with fear, his mouth an o of horror. He had removed his trousers and his organ was hanging pathetically out of his boxers - I quickly averted my eyes, feeling sick at the thought of that thing being forced into me.

"You have exactly two minutes before you will die. And you will not die painlessly." Edward spoke to the man with a low voice, spitting the words out. I tried to get up, my whole body shaking, still in shock. He turned his face towards me. His grimace disappeared for a moment but his eyes remained terrifying when he looked at me. "You shouldn't see what I intend to do to this scumbag, Bella."

I could only stare at him. I couldn't understand he was really there. I had thought I would never see him again, and the sheer beauty of his face mesmerized me - my love for him overwhelmed me. I couldn't even feel shame for the way I was exposed, at the moment I couldn't make myself care about anything else but the fact that he was really there. I felt hot tears escape my eyes, again. I raised a hand to my mouth and started sobbing uncontrollably.

"Oh, Edward. I thought I would never see you again." I cried into my hand, my words muffled and unclear.

There were so many other things I wanted to say to him, but couldn't. I wanted to thank him and I wanted to apologise. But the time just wasn't right. I felt his arms circle around myself, cold and strong - I was slightly startled, I hadn't expected him to come to me. And then I drew in a sharp breath, realizing what it meant: that the man was getting out of the car - he was already stumbling out, panting like a wild rabbit escaping its hunter. Edward tightened his hold on me.

"Shh, love. It's all right. I did promise him two minutes," he murmured into my hair, his hands making comforting motions on my back. I circled my arms around him and cried against him. I couldn't seem to open my fists that were clenched into a stone grip, even around him. I realized I was in shock; my entire body was shaking and I felt like I was dancing on the edge of passing out again. I felt his lips in my hair and his velvety voice kept on whispering for me, telling me that he loved me. I grasped at the sound of his voice, trying to keep myself from falling apart. And then I felt him gently lift me out of the car. It was dark again for a moment, but this time even the darkness felt safe.

He took me to his car that was parked sideways in the middle of the road, almost blocking the way of the exit; it was parked in an obvious haste. He opened the front door and laid me gently on the seat. I closed my eyes. The car felt like a safe haven; I let the familiar smell cradle me. It smelled like Edward. He brushed my cheek with his fingers, and I opened my eyes. His face was tender when he looked at me.

"I'm going to have to leave you here alone for a moment. Do you think you will be all right?"

I nodded - what wouldn't I have done for him? I didn't want him to leave me, even for a moment, but I knew he had something to do. For a moment I felt like stopping him - what did that man matter anymore, now that Edward was here? But then I realized what would happen if I did stop him. The man would just continue doing this to other girls, less fortunate girls. Girls who didn't have Edward to save them. And the Volturi would invade - there was evidence; the car door pulled out of its place, the horrified man who would be telling stories. It didn't really matter if people believed him or not; the word would travel. The Volturi would know.

And so I let him kiss my forehead and leave. Before he pulled himself out of the car he looked at me with somber eyes and I saw a shadow of the terrifying monster cross over his face when he whispered: "His two minutes are up."

And then he was gone.

Author's Note: Once again, my apologies for the shortness of this chapter.

I have nearly finished another Bella/Edward fic which will be a very long one-shot full of lemony goodness ;-) It will be uploaded within a couple of if you want to read about Edward and Bella making some sweet saucy love (and I know you do!) stay tuned to my fanfiction!

And PLEASE LEAVE A REVIEW, your reviews are very much appreciated and they are what make me continue writing! 3