Chapter 9
Edward had already jumped from the window sill when she saw Bella trying to escape. Emmett figured that it was time to ambush James and Victoria he followed Edward to meet up with the others. Alice, Jasper, and Carlisle immediately got into mindset to eliminate James and Victoria when they saw Emmett and Edward approach to retaliate. Carlisle could tell Edward was just ready to attack James with his intense facial expression. "Son, you need to calm down. Your emotions aren't going help to save Bella. You can't be enraged to defeat James. He knows that you want to kill him, so you're only giving him the inevitable when you retaliate immediately. We have to stick with our plan. Alice, you try to get Bella to a safe location away from James and Victoria. Emmett and Edward you fight Victoria and Jasper and I will attack James--" Carlisle tried to explain briefly.
"James will catch on to our plan and then he'll chase after Bella—"Edward bluntly stated.
"Alice when you get Bella outside safely you'll run with Bella through the forest back to her mother's house, and then wait there. We'll meet you there after we've gotten rid of James and Victoria."
Alice's body tensed as though someone was watching them, but she just ignored the feeling and continued listening to Carlisle. Jasper noticed Alice react to something, so he asked if everything was alright but Alice just assured that it was nothing.
Victoria heard voices coming from the lobby and went to check who it was. Her eyes filled with rage and excitement as she saw the Cullens except the Rosalie and Esme huddled in a small mass. Standing in the doorway, Victoria watched them intently waiting to interject. Swiftly turning around to see James, she turned her gaze back on the Cullens who seemed unaware of her presence. "Why am I not surprise that you guys would show up to save your precious Bella," Victoria said sarcastically blocking the entrance of the studio her flaming red curls hiding her face.
"You and James can't win you've been outnumbered," Emmett boldly stated with a smug grin on his face.
"Is that a challenge?" Victoria cheekily responded with a mischievous smile.
Edward was already enraged though Victoria was only making his rage more prominent Jasper unable to manipulate his rage into calmness. Jasper was trying to calm Edward down though his efforts failed when he broke free of his firm grip lunging himself at Victoria. Carlisle and Emmett tried to make a barrier preventing him from attacking Victoria, though Edward broke free of them and ran after Victoria as she ran into the headed into the ballet studio. Alice, Jasper, Emmett, and Carlisle raced into the room after Edward as he pursued to destroy both James and Victoria. Edward's eyes were filled with rage as he followed behind Victoria abandoning the original plan and just eliminating both of them himself. Bella still withering in pain saw Victoria approach the room with Edward following right behind her in a furious pursuit. Once Edward had entered the darken ballet studio he was fully prepared to rip Victoria's head off right then and there, but he froze when he saw Bella laying on the floor with broken shards of glass surrounding with a small pool of blood forming as she gazed weakly back at Edward with a faint smile and sparkling brown eyes.
James walked away from her Bella's trembling body toward Edward with a wild look in his eyes. Edward hissed at James as he was warning him not to get near him unless he was suicidal. With the others standing behind Edward, they waited anxiously waiting to see his next move. For a few minutes, James and Edward glared at each other with hatred and rage combusted as they waited to see who would make the first move. Emmett was getting impatient of waiting and jumped from a crouch hurling through the air attacking Victoria, who seemed unprepared, as Emmett knocked her to the hardwood floors with extreme force causing to ruin the wooden floors in the process. Victoria fought off Emmett kicking him off sending him soaring through the air in the opposite direction causing him to crash violently into the glass sending more shards across the floor towards Bella's direction. Emmett got up swiftly snarling brushing off any dust and shards of glass to retaliate charging toward Victoria. Jasper followed Emmett to help him fight Victoria, while Carlisle and Alice still standing in the same spot witnessing Emmett's rage explode as he battled Victoria decided that there was no peaceful approach and tried to find a way to get James away from Bella. James and Victoria had a malevolent nature which made peaceful discussion difficult. Groaning from the pain, Bella had some difficulty moving without worsening pain. James and Edward were still having an intense staring contest when Alice jumped on James's shoulders surprising him making him lose balance and fall forward but he caught his balance fighting Alice off his shoulders. Edward took the window of opportunity to get Bella to a safer location. James resisted Alice attempting to wrestle her off his shoulder, though she seemed difficult to repel. Carlisle attacked James from the front while he was still trying to wrestle Alice off sending him flying through the air. While in the air, Alice flipped forward off James's shoulders kicking him directly in the chest and sending him farther toward the low studio ceiling. James used gravity to his advantage kicking off the wall and landing in a crouching position preparing to retaliate against Alice and Carlisle. Edward looked at Bella who lay almost still from the stifling pain from the shards of glass stabbing in her back. Bella held his gaze with a weak glimpse of happiness from seeing him. Edward picked up her from the shards of glass kicking the ones around her. He looked at helpless Bella feeling so guilty that he had inflicted pain for his own screw-up. Bella fainted in Edward's arms, Edward gained balanced and started to jump to the window sill then get out to of the window, but James noticed that the others were distracting him to get Bella away to safety. James got away from Alice and Carlisle catching Edward's foot while he was jumping in midair sending him crashing to the ground and knocking Bella out of his arms on some sharper shards of glass that penetrated deeper creating a larger pool of blood quickly. Bella tried to get up, but her body went limp and unable to muster up strength to get up. Carlisle ran towards Bella thinking of a way to prevent the flow of the blood. Alice attempted the charge James tackling to the ground, so Carlisle could examine the extent of Bella's internal bleeding since he was prone to it working at the hospital. James took Alice's charge and throwing her across the room making her collide with Carlisle sending both of them backwards. James ambled towards Bella's semi-unconscious body taking her right hand sinking his teeth into her soft flesh. Bella tried to felt the venom spread through her bloodstream rapidly, but she was too fragile and weak to fight back.