Author's Notes: Thanks for your patience everybody! The good news, I will update this story again on Sunday. Woohoo! And of course thanks to the reviewers: KMT06055, Aiyami Sakura, x-rayLady, Lus-In, sonia48, mysteryfan09, Nessie, Lautnerx, midtwilight, Renesmee is Awesome, anaisdunsby, Sassy1515, o0dancer4ever0o, ConradKCat, and Lehcar Marie! You guys are the bestest ^_^
Disclaimer: The Twilight saga and all characters therein are the creation of Stephenie Meyer. No profit is being made from this fanfiction and no copyright infringement is intended.
Chapter Nineteen
Scarred
The clearing of bright, clean white buildings was utterly still. The only movement was the gentle waving of the bright green trees and bushes, the restless underside of the clouds above us… and the light fluttering of the line of gray cloaks that stood in front of us.
There were twenty of them. Volturi guards. We could not see their faces. Their hoods were pulled up. I knew, rather than felt, Bella's shield strengthen in response.
No one moved.
A long, anguished scream broke the silence. It came from inside one of the white buildings – I sniffed and the air was a potent mixture of pure human, pure vampire, and a mingling that suggested hybrids.
Another scream, the same voice.
Someone's transforming, I thought.
Edward's curt nod was barely noticeable.
I couldn't even breathe with the tension. The sinister gray cloaks reminded me of Demetri, of the way he walked down the beach toward me, intent on murder. I could sense no fear from them, either. I wished someone would move. Beneath me, Jacob's steady breathing was a comfort and I tried to focus on that.
It was Carlisle, of course, who stepped forward slowly and said, "Who is in charge here?"
There was no response from the statuesque cloaks. They might have been carved of stone and wrapped in cloth. Did they even have minds, free will? Were they so indoctrinated that they could do nothing but defend their territory, more machine than human? I shivered in the warm, damp air.
The wolves, however, were moving. Jacob stayed where he was, next to Bella, but the rest of the pack fanned out on either side of us, forming a half-circle with the points arced toward the compound. As long as Jacob stayed beneath Bella's mental shield, they were all protected.
I glanced at Bella. She looked stressed, too.
"Ah," Edward breathed. He spoke in an undertone to Carlisle.
Carlisle nodded. "My son tells me that your orders are to defend this ground. And I can see you, Chelsea, there in the back. Can we speak with you?"
One of the cloaks, a darker gray than the rest, stepped forward and pushed back the hood. Chelsea caught eyes with me and I could see that she was angry. "Well, well. It's the little bird that flew away," she said to me.
I didn't respond but Bella growled at her.
"Chelsea," said Carlisle, "are you in command of this facility?"
She sneered. "No. I am in command of the guard."
"I see. We mean you no harm, but after what's happened with Renesmee, you must know that we are forced to investigate."
"And Demetri?" Chelsea said, an undertone of rage in her voice. "What of him, little bird?"
"Demetri will bother no one again," said Carlisle. "She was merely defending herself."
"And we shall defend ourselves," said Chelsea, and a ripple of agreement made the gray cloaks shiver.
Meanwhile, Edward's eyes were narrowed upon Chelsea. He said to Carlisle, "She's deliberately keeping her thoughts away from the function of this place." Then louder, to Chelsea: "What are you doing here, so far from Volterra?"
"My job," she said.
Alice and Edward hissed at the same time and their warning came a split-second before the cloaks were unfurled and the line of guards spread into a fan, hands clawed, silent and deadly, leaping toward us.
Fight, was all I had time to think.
My heart was in my throat as the forest exploded into action, trees flying, the metallic screech of hand-to-hand combat, the shouts and snarls and growls. I was thrown off Jacob's back as he reared back to swipe a guard; I landed on my feet and plunged forward into the melee. Horrified, I saw Carlisle beset by three cloaks, then Esme and Edward to his rescue… the wolves bounded into the clearing, feral and unleashed, their mighty teeth snapping.
I was between Bella and Jacob, and my mother grabbed my hand as though to keep me back from the fight. Jacob tore apart a vampire with his teeth, joined by Leah to his left. White body parts flew from every direction. I couldn't tell if they were Volturi or Cullen or Denali.
Edward's voice shouted, "Stay back!" and I knew it was to me and Bella.
Alice was holding her own against a guard, anticipating every step, moving like a dervish and cutting him to shreds. The wolves had been given strict instructions not to help her, because their decisions would affect her ability to foresee the other's moves.
I heard Rosalie's screech, terrifying because I couldn't tell if it was anger, grief, or pain.
In the middle of the chaos, the skies opened up and a torrential downpour crashed down upon us.
I couldn't stand there and do nothing. My eyes narrowed on Esme, gentle Esme, fighting a cloaked guard, and saw as though in slow motion as the vampire's teeth swiped toward her neck. She blocked him and her right pinky finger was lost; she cried out in pain.
Esme, who loved to cook food for Jacob and me.
Esme, the sweetest soul, the glue that kept our family together.
Esme, my grandmother.
I felt the power rising up like a volcanic column from the base of my spine, swirling through my mind and I was moving, heedless of Jacob's quick bark for me to stay back. I couldn't watch this. I no longer cared. I was a creature of pure instinct.
My vision tunneled on the enemy vampire. I conjured a feeling of overwhelming thirst, a memory of the sweet taste of human blood, and raising my hands outward, hurled the thought into his mind.
The guard stood up, red eyes darkening, lips pulled back in a different kind of snarl. He sniffed my half-human blood, and stared at me…
It was enough time for me and Esme to leap upon him and twist off his head, arms, legs, and throw them in all directions.
"Thanks, sweetheart," Esme said, and she retrieved her missing finger from the jungle floor and pressed it back onto her hand, where it began to heal immediately. She looked at it, perturbed, as though it was a mismatched curtain.
I whirled around, looking for more.
A new line of Volturi had come out of the compound, just three of them, but they wore darker cloaks. I recognized the middle one all too well as he glided across the grass toward the line of trees.
Alec's eyes were trained on the battle, and the mirage-like shimmering of the air in front of him crept across towards us.
I could see that Bella was having a difficult time keeping the shield around us as individuals; a cloaked vampire fought against Rosalie who – I started in shock – was missing an arm.
Rosalie could not be happy about that.
Her opponent was driving her back toward Bella. I felt, rather than saw, the presence of Jacob at my shoulder and we leapt together, this time to Rosalie's aid.
The female vampire didn't stand a chance against three and she was in a dozen pieces within seconds.
Jacob and Rosalie stared at each other for a long beat, and I could see their grudging respect.
A half-second later, Edward and Jasper were dragging the remains of a guard and flinging him outward into the jungle. "It's Alec!" Edward shouted. "Everyone in!"
Out of the corner of my eye, I could see Kate and Garrett fighting together, Kate's hands pressed against a guard who twitched and screamed in pain. In between the pulses of electricity, Garrett dismembered him.
Edward met Jacob's eyes and nodded shortly. "Let the wolves take care of the rest, everyone in!" Edward shouted.
Jacob stayed next to Bella and the rest of the pack yanked and tore the remaining guards outward. Although Alec's numbing fog smothered them, they carried on fighting, immune.
And then, just as suddenly as it had begun, the fighting stopped, as though someone had pushed the pause button.
Breathing hard, I looked around at my family, taking frantic tabs on who was standing. One, two, three, four, five… I almost collapsed with relief when I saw everyone intact, except for Rosalie, who was looking for her arm.
On the borders, the wolf pack ripped the remaining guards to shreds, tossing their quivering limbs in every direction. I noticed that Seth was limping and blood seeped from Embry's abdomen, as though he'd been clawed. Not bitten, I prayed.
My relief did not last long. A few of the guards and Chelsea had retreated and now stood with Alec, Heidi, and a third who I didn't recognize. Alec's cloud of anesthetic pushed up against the edges of our shield.
His eyes and Bella's were locked, and Bella grinned at him.
"Here, baby," Emmett whispered, finding Rosalie's arm tucked beneath a log. It was her left arm and her wedding ring shone in the gloom. Emmett held it against her gaping shoulder and the venom in her veins began to knit the connections back together; Emmett kissed the seam as though to make it better. Rosalie's expression was outraged; I could tell she was worried about having a scar.
Carlisle's hair was mussed and his expression harried as he took a step forward. "Well? Do you care to be further decimated, or are you willing to step aside?"
It was Alec's cool, high voice that rang through the jungle. "Leave now. We have no intention to follow you. We will let you go in peace."
Edward suddenly grinned; he must have picked something from one of their minds. "No, I don't think so," he said. "This is all that's left of you, isn't it? You had no idea that so powerful a group as ours could ever find you here. You believed this place to be a well-kept secret."
Alec's expression remained sweet, but I saw the anger flash in his eyes. Edward must have been right.
A tiny flash of Edward's fingers caught my attention; a thumbs-up. A split second later, the wolves on our flanks were stalking through Alec's mist toward the small group at the center. The effect was immediate: the remaining Volturi's faces were stark with terror. I felt a fierce pride for Jacob.
"Shall we continue this?" Carlisle asked wearily. "Do you surrender? Or would you rather be destroyed now?"
They didn't respond.
Jacob must have taken that to mean, "be destroyed now," because Seth, Leah, Quil, and Embry lunged out and snatched vampires in their jaws, the three remaining guards and the one with the darker cloak. Alec's mist disappeared as he was distracted, and we surged forward, surrounding them as the wolves, including Jacob, disposed of the guards.
Alec made a strange whimpering sound and in a flash of white limbs and gray silk and Carlisle saying, "Restrain them only," and in the ghost-like whispering violence of vampire-kind, we had them caught, Alec and Chelsea and Heidi our prisoners, the tide turned toward justice.
Please review if you liked this! And let's just say the jungle fight isn't quite done yet... uh oh...!
