Chapter 15: Sumptuous
sump·tu·ous [suhmp-choo-uhs] – magnificent; splendid.
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James, Victoria, and Laurent remained outside, just watching the Cullens interact with each other. One of their main concerns was to ensure that none of the inhabitants of the house became aware that they were being watched, or plotted against – that was Victoria's job. She never let her eyes stray from the house, carefully observing everybody in sight at all times, her eyes darting between each window that offered her a view of a member of the family.
Laurent's job was to watch the garage and the driveway, and to listen for any cars that may be turning on to the drive. They couldn't have anybody else joining the Cullens; nobody else needed to go except the little lamb, and the less people know about what was going to happen here, the better.
James was the one who was planning what to do. He could see the muscled one and the blonde in an upstairs window, watching television. They might be a problem, as the big on looked pretty strong. He could see the leader of the family and his wife reading in an upstairs library, they were the furthest away from the door. Another blonde and his tiny mate were the closest, being in the downstairs living room, just staring at each other; they didn't look very intimidating.
The only couple they couldn't see was the lion and the lamb, the reason they were there. James figured that the room they were in must be around the back of the house.
"Okay, we're going to just head straight for the door. I figure the two downstairs will hear us approach, and they'll be a little wary because they didn't hear a car come up. We'll knock, to throw them off a bit, and to get them all downstairs. Whoever is closest to the target lunges first; try to distract them a bit, though, head for the others to get the guys away from the little one," he spoke in quick, quiet whispers. His voice was harsh, and you could practically hear the underlying adrenaline. Victoria and Laurent only nodded, not for a second forgetting their posts. James smiled, glad that he had such a good team with him.
Not five minutes later, they received the text from Jessica saying that they were all clear. James wasn't exactly sure why they had needed to wait for the text, but he had listened to the girl, anyways. She was offering a chance he couldn't pass up. It's not very often somebody asks you to kill someone, unless you were an assassin.
Victoria and Laurent had noticed him pull out his phone, and they positioned themselves to head towards the door. James set his sights on the house, and when he observed that everything was still as he first planned it, he motioned with his hand for them to head to the drive way.
Just as he predicted, he noticed the black haired girl and her blonde mate whip their heads to the side, facing the door way when their feet hit the gravel at the end of the porch. They could already hear the others stirring in the house, so either they heard them, as well, or the two downstairs had contacted them in some way. Their shoes made an almost ominous sound against the wooden stairs, and they only seemed to get louder as they made their way across the porch and stopped outside the door.
James turned to look at both of his companion, giving them a gaze to remind them of the plan, before fixing his jacket and knocking three times, loudly, on the door.
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Alice knocked on the coffee table three times, alerting her family that people were outside. She knew Edward, Emmett, and Rosalie had most likely heard them approach, as well, but the others hearing wasn't as good.
Jasper had his arm around her shoulder, showing that he was worried about what these visitors could want; he had noticed that there was no sound of a vehicle. The Cullen house was a couple of miles away from the town limits, and hardly anybody made it out to visit them, let alone walk to their house.
The knocks on the door came just as Edward and Bella – the last ones – made it to the bottom of the stairs. Edward looked angry, probably because he was worried that the people just on the other side of the door may not be as friendly as Carlisle assumed they might be. He took a step in front of Bella, clearly showing that he would defend his mate against anybody, no matter who dared to get close to her. The fact that none of them had any idea of who could be at the door made him both more worried and more angry at the same time. Bella noticed, and placed the palm of her left hand on his back, rubbing up and down softly; it helped him to loosen his muscles a little bit, but he was still tense.
Carlisle, ever the peace maker, assumed that maybe these were just hikers who had gotten lost. He was always eager to help others who were in need of aid, and so his steps were a little hurried to head towards the door and offer his assistance. The others tensed as his hand landed on the door knob, and opened up to reveal the three strangers.
Edward was the first to notice the wild look in their eyes, and Jasper's intuition clicked in soon after. It was blatantly obvious to those two that these strangers weren't in need of anything, they were here for trouble.
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When James saw the younger blonde male and the lion boy tense up, he knew they had realized that something was wrong. He motioned his hand slightly towards Victoria and Laurent; it signalled for them to begin the plan.
Immediately, Laurent made a lunge for the little dark haired fox, and Victoria launched herself at the blonde female. James headed directly for the lion, trying to get him separated from his mate.
Though he knew that these two – the lion and the lamb – were indeed proper mates, he wouldn't turn up the chance for a fight, and Jessica's father was a great friend of his; he would do anything to remain in his favour, even if it meant helping his stupid daughter in her attempt to break up a fully mated pair.
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In seconds, Jasper was in front of Alice and was throwing the man away from her, unfortunately managing to launch him into the wall, causing it to break a little bit from the pressure. While foxes aren't exactly known for their strength, anybody can become stronger while trying to protect their mate. Jasper knew his Alice could take care of herself, but his instincts had made him act without thinking, willing to take any of the damage for her.
Rosalie had darted away from the red-headed female; however, she was still making her way towards her. Emmett grabbed her from behind, and she quickly followed the man as she crashed against the wall. Neither of them were knocked out, but their eyes quickly surveyed their surroundings, trying to shake away the slight ache in their muscles.
Realizing what could happen here, the others had somehow managed to converge around little Bella, their instincts to protect the weakest member of their family stronger now that they had been made fully aware of what was going on.
Edward and the blonde male were fighting, though Edward was mostly using defensive manoeuvres in order to remain as close to his defenceless mate as possible. The others noticed this, and Emmett and Jasper moved in to help him, giving the red-head the opportunity to make her move towards Esme.
Bella had closed her eyes, not wanting to watch any of it happened. She had never been as scared in her life, and the funny thing was that she wasn't exactly scared for herself. She was worried about the others, knowing that she couldn't help them in anyway because she had no knowledge of how to fight, or defend herself in any way. She had never thought that anybody could be so cruel as to attack an unknowing family; she had been hidden away from the troubles in the world by her parents.
She watched as Edward protected both himself and her, being aware of how close he was. She wanted to reach out and cling to him – knowing that it would bring her some much needed comfort – but she knew that that would only distract him. She didn't want him to get hurt when he was trying to keep this man away from her.
Carlisle stood in front of his mate, both wanting to kill the red-headed woman in front of him for thinking of hurting his mate, and wanting to find a way to end this fight right there. When Jasper noticed his hesitation, he took time away from helping his brothers with the blonde male and opened the front door, hurrying back to grab the menacing female, launching her through the front door. She landed heavily at the bottom of the stairs, and anybody could have heard the crunch of her bones as they broke from the fall. She let out a low moan, but otherwise made no move to do anything.
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Laurent watched as Victoria was thrown out the door, cringing as her bones snapped when she landed. He hurried to her side, wanting to help his cousin; all thoughts of continuing the fight were abandoned. Thinking about the fact that he had no medical knowledge of any kind, and had no idea about what to do when setting broken bones, he only attempted to comfort her, talking in a low voice about funny things that had happened when they were young children. Victoria laughed a bit, though her laughter was laced with pain, her broken bones feeling as if someone had burned her with a match.
James was enraged that his girlfriend had been hurt, but wasn't as concerned as one would be if they were facing their true mate. He realized quickly that he was alone now; Laurent wouldn't leave Victoria's side until he knew she was alright. The concern between the family dynamic of Laurent and Victoria was sickening to him – Laurent knew that they had a job to complete, something as little as his cousin being injured shouldn't prevent him from getting it done. After this, both of them were going to be getting yelled at for abandoning him.
He smiled at Edward as he once again retreated from him, heading towards his tiny mate.
"I don't see why Jessica is all hyped up about you; you don't look like much," he said, nonchalantly, trying to distract his opponents. It didn't work, not on Edward nor on Jasper – who had seen the tactic many times in the past.
Emmett, however, was thinking a little more clearly. "Jessica Stanley?" He asked, wanting to know who had set this all up. "She put you three up to this?" He moved closer, both to seek more knowledge of the situation and to get a little closer to his newest sister.
"Yes, Jessica Stanley," James said mockingly. "She's enamoured with lion boy here, and thinks she deserves him more than your little lamb ever would." He made eyes toward Bella, looking for a way to get close to her; Jasper, Emmett and Edward had her covered, and the girls and Carlisle were either behind her or beside her. Rosalie was rubbing her shoulder, trying to calm her down.
"I don't see how she thinks that even if something did happen to Bella, I would be with her," Edward said, sounding menacing. There was a hint of pain when he spoke of something happening to his mate, but he covered it up, trying to anger the man in front of him.
"I'm an old friend of her father's, and while I don't think too much of her, I don't exactly appreciate you speaking bad about her." James snarled, moving in closer to his target.
"I'm not speaking anything but the truth; Bella is the only one I will ever be with."
While watching and listening to his brother, Jasper had edged closer to the enemy, already knowing just how he would do it. Emmett had caught on, and was moving slightly to position himself properly.
Just as James was about to make a retort, Emmett and Jasper lunged, the former quickly holding him in a position that would easily allow him to launch him outside, to join the rest of his companions. Jasper quickly moved out of the way, and Emmett through him outside, further than Victoria had gone as he was stronger. Laurent ducked as the body of his unofficial leader flew over him. He was concerned about him, but returned his attention to his cousin, taking her mind off the pain again. Victoria hadn't noticed what had happened; if she had, she would probably be hysterical. Later, when Carlisle had gone to see about how to help Victoria's injuries – always the compassionate one -, he had checked the unmoving body of James for a pulse.
There was none.
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I apologize now for that completely horrible attempt at writing a fight scene.
Moving on, I am both excited and saddened to announce that this story is almost finished – only a couple of more chapters, and an epilogue will be coming your way in the future. Also, I do have a couple ideas for outtakes in my mind, but nothing is concrete yet. There isn't much I left out in this story.
A recommendation for all of you – head on over and read the story 'Hunter' by 'Stephen King Reincarnated'. It's one of my favourites.
Don't forget to review!
"I have noticed even people who claim everything is predestined, and that we can do nothing to change it, look before they cross the road." – Stephen Hawking