Chapter 50 - Death
The wolves ran in steady formation, their minds focused on one thing. Finding Bella. Jacob's paws rushed forward without needing direction, as though attracted to a homing beacon. He knew exactly where she was.
Only hours before he'd drank the sticky tea that promised sleep, closing his eyes in search of his imprint. Embry and Quil had burst through the doorway, each holding in their hands a shimmering piece of crumbling parchment. Máire placed the two together, calling Leah forth to read the spell inscribed long ago.
Jacob felt the power wash over him, stronger than ever before. A sense of purpose filled his body and soul, directing him to seek out what was lost and triumph over his enemies. The figures on the bottom of the page moved in animation. A woman, held in the arms of a vampire, a wolf diving between them, then wrenching the head of death from its body.
When he'd woken demanding a map, there was one waiting and ready for him. In seconds, he'd shot from the house, determined to get Bella back in his arms.
Under his command the wolves fanned out, circling the cabin buried within the trees. They would have to move quickly, Alice Cullen would smell them the second the wind shifted. Leah phased back to human, the spirits demanding something other than tooth and claw from her today. Jacob could still feel her connection, different, brighter somehow. When she began to offer prayers to the spirits, he heard her voice clearly as if she were speaking into his ear.
The air around them stilled, the sounds of the forest amplified. From inside the cabin, he could hear Bella's heartbeat... and smell her fear.
ooo000ooo
The room had warmed and Alice left Bella alone in the room to dress. Standing in front of the long mirror placed against the wall, she changed into the clothes laid out for her. A pair of wool slacks, light cerulean sweater and silk stockings. An ice blue gown taunted her from where it hung in the closet. Alice promised to change her into it before she woke. It was her 'after dress'.
No sooner than she'd gotten the sweater over her head, Alice came back into the room, an array of cosmetics to put Loreal Paris to shame clutched in her arms. Then quite suddenly, she stilled. A vacant look that Bella remembered all too well crossing over her face. The seconds ticked by, each one watering the fear blooming in Bella's heart.
Alice blinked, then shrieked, the bottles and lotions clattering to the floor. "We have to hurry. Edward is coming." Her iron grip directed Bella toward the bed. "Lay down," she ordered. "There's no time to be gentle, I'm afraid. He's almost here."
Bella protested, pushing back with all her might but it was useless. "Alice, please," she begged, "I'm not ready."
"Nonsense, Beth. It's finally time. We're sisters and we have to share or mommy will get mad." Her voice had changed to that of a child, Alice Cullen slipping back into the mind of Alice Brandon, aged six with an extreme fear of her parents and unhealthy love of her sister.
Tears flowed down Bella's cheeks, whispered cries falling from her parted lips. "Jacob, I'm sorry. I'm so sorry. I love you."
Alice leaned over the bed, her eyes coal black with hunger. "Jacob who?" she whispered, her lips caressing the small of Bella's neck where the mark of the wolf lay hidden.
Death had finally found her.
ooo000ooo
Thunder crashed all around them, the wind picking up speed in a wild ball of fury. The pack advanced, closing in on the target. Then, a flash of white rushed through the trees; an impossible blur of sparkling rock capped in warm bronze.
Jacob ordered the rest of the wolves back, pushing forward, flanked only by Paul and Embry.
The enemy was at hand, a time of reckoning had come.
The narrow door of the cabin splintered with his weight, broken pieces of wood scraping across his shoulders while he rocketed through.
Edward and Alice stood on either side of Bella, whose body lay limp as a ragdoll, frozen with fear atop a red and white quilt. Seeing the grip of their marble hands on her delicate skin, Jacob lunged, his monstrous jaws poised to kill.
But Edward was fast. Vaulting upward into the exposed rafters with the grace of a trapeze artist, he managed to evade the attack. Perched as an eagle he watched the wolves close in on his sister, who was frantically trying to anticipate their every move.
"Alice! I can't hear them! RUN!" She hissed, gripping Bella's wrist tightly, refusing to be deterred.
Edward surveyed the room, the wolves below now focused solely on his sister, pushing her further back into the room. Bella's eyes had opened, her legs kicking wildly against the mattress. A matter of futility, Alice would never let her go.
Cold and calculating, his eyes black with hunger, Edward leapt on the back of the gray wolf before its massive jaws clamped around Alice's arm. The red wolf howled in outrage, pouncing forward in attack.
A cacophony of howls sounded from the outside. The ground quaked beneath the ponderous weight of their bodies. The house would fall down around their ears if they penetrated the building. Already the cracks had begun in the plaster walls, crumbling into chalk and dust over the brightly braided rugs on the wooden floors.
Alice relinquished her hold on Bella, rushing to her brother's defense while Bella shrank backward, curling her body into a protective ball. The snapping sound of timber reverberated like a gunshot in the crowded space. Daring a chance look around her, Bella saw blood trickling off of matted fur, the wolves battling hard against the Cullens.
Embry's body slammed into the bed, throwing her body forcefully against the wall. Her reflection cracked inside the silvered mirror. The story of the Third Wife and memories of a fist smashing against glass flashed quickly through her mind. It was the chance they needed.
Pulling back hard, she crashed into the mirror with all her might then grasped a jagged shard, cutting her palm open. Blood seeped between her closed fingers, but she brought the blade down on her arm, slicing apart her flesh like a hot knife through butter.
Thick, viscous crimson flowed freely over her skin, dripping over fingertips and into a puddle on the floor.
A silent scream issued from Alice's mouth, just as the dangerous snarl of hunger twisted on Edward's perfect face. Eyes like flint, cold and hard, blacker than midnight with thirst honed in on the sweet scent of blood.
The russet wolf took his chance, diving towards him while Embry's body crashed down in front of Bella, growling at anyone who dared look at her. Another smash of glass, two marble bodies twisting out of the broken window.
Just like that, it was over.
Out of claw and fur, Jacob materialized before her eyes then gathered her into his arms. Sweat and blood mixed together, the rain outside pouring in through the empty pane of glass and onto the floor, creating pink puddles of horror.
The wolf barely concealed beneath the skin scented its mate, covering the wounds of her body with his hands while Embry tore strips of cotton from the bed that would have been Bella's funeral pyre.
Paul rushed inside, having stood sentinel at the door. With hardly a backward glance, he leapt through the gaping hole in the wall, transforming back into wolf mid-stride.
"I knew you'd come," she whispered, feeling safe and whole once again. "It was almost too late. I tried to fight, but she was too strong. There was nothing I could do!" she cried, the warmth of her brown eyes swimming with tears of shock.
"Shhh..." Jacob soothed her, smoothing his hands over the length of her hair while Embry bound her wounds. "I've got you now. It'll be over soon."
The world began to spin, the rusty scent of her own blood wafting through the damp, cold air. His words echoed loudly in the room and the wolves could hear the pulse quicken in her veins.
Embry tied the white strips tightly, staunching the flow of crimson bleeding out of her arm and hand. "Jacob, we have to hurry, there isn't much time," he warned.
"What's happening?" she asked, wide-eyed and afraid. "Oh God! Are they coming back?"
"No." Jacob's face was grim, the lines of his mouth thin and set with determination. "We're leading them into a trap. Máire's orders." The burn of fire flashed in his eyes when he took her face between his hands. "It's time to finish this."
ooo000ooo
Throbbing pain ran through her entire body as they raced through the wilderness, deep into Cascadia. Back to where the battle lines had been drawn. Back to the place where the earth had been watered with the hearts of the warriors. Where the world of supernatural and nature collided against a backdrop of rushing water.
They could hear them approaching, the whoosh of air shaking the trees and soft footfalls on springy moss. The cold ones pressed forward, led by the scent of Bella's blood, straight into a trap.
The pack spread out in round formation, the pups ready to close the circle, effectively locking the enemy in.
In the center of the clearing Máire and Mathúin waited, the power of the sidhe radiating out of their pores. Jacob stopped beside them, bowed low, then waited for Bella to slide from his back. She was to stand behind them, to wait and keep watch with Leah.
The she-wolf darted fast and swift as an arrow, Embry close on her heels. The tips of her fur began to shimmer, receding back into copper skin and raven hair. Her hand closed around Bella's, a powerful force blowing out of her at the speed of light. A circle of warmth enveloped the two women, keeping them safe from the war that was about to take place.
One by one they emerged from the trees, beautiful faces set in chiseled lines of stone. Alice, Edward, Jasper, eyes red, thirsty for blood. Carlisle, appearing as the twisted sycophant he really was, dressed impeccably in fine gray wool. Then Esme gliding into the clearing as if floating on the backs of angel's wings.
Alice twirled around, a dancing dervish, a child playing a game amid the tall grass. "Beth!" she called, her tinkling voice like a fairy laugh. "Come out and play with me!"
When Bella made no move toward her, the childlike voice turned menacing and cold. "It's time for you to join us. Come forward now and we won't kill all of your friends."
Leah gripped Bella's hand even more tightly as Alice returned to her family's side. From behind a towering tree, Rosalie and Emmett slipped forward, coming to stand alongside the warriors, drawing the line of battle. Carlisle hissed with betrayal.
It was time.
A ball of light, glowing blue rose from the earth, then flattened into a deafening wave of sound that knocked Edward Cullen off his feet. The smugness vanished from his face, his hands balled into fists, covering his ears as a dozen voices suddenly crashed through his brain. The wolves dove into the first strike of war while Máire drew her sword.
The cry of a thousand Tuatha Dé Danann warriors fell from her lips as she rushed toward Esme, wielding the blade of light.
The cold one dodged, ducking beneath the fire in one swift, graceful move. While they danced, Jacob went after the vampire that nearly destroyed Bella's life.
The scene was utter chaos, soft fur and marble flesh blurring past each other to a soundtrack of snarls and growls. Arc's of crimson spatter flew through the air, freezing the snow and ice into blood rubies, casting small rainbows in their wake.
Rosalie and Emmett took off after Jasper, a purposeful distraction, knowing Alice would foresee their movements. The wolves took their chance. Sam and Paul converged, teeth sinking into her flailing arms, pulling them wide until the sides of the cross snapped from her body. Jasper tried to dive forward, caught from behind by the massive paws of Seth, raking across his back as if dragging his toes across the sand.
A pile of rubble built in the middle of the killing field. What was once the impenetrable bodies of an immortal coven, reduced to rocky debris.
Carlisle and Edward stood back to back, hands darting out to block their attackers. Jacob, Embry and Quil snarled, their teeth dripping with the desire to taste vampire flesh. A cry rose into the air, the unbridled scream of pain coming from a warrior princess. Esme Cullen stood over the body of Máire, nostrils flaring, the rich scent of faerie blood enticing her senses. Mathúin dropped Leah's hand, jumping into the tempest, thrusting balls of raging fire from his outstretched palms. At the same time, Embry howled in agony, feeling the pain of his imprint's suffering.
In a wild dive of retribution, his claws tore cheek from bone, twisting Esme's angelic face into something more grotesque and twisted. Red hot and searing, flames sprang from the earth, enclosing and effectively trapping the cold one in place. Embry could almost hear Máire's voice calling to him. Sounds of destruction faded until there was only her, only their connection to each other pulsating through his mind.
Blood poured across her chest, bathing her body and soaking her clothing in a crimson pool of fading life. Mine, yours, ours... the ties which bound them pulled stronger. The mark on his chest glowed and burned brightly, leaves unfurling, roots grasping his soul. The wolf hovered over its mate, staring into blank eyes, hearing the fast beat of her heart begin to fade into oblivion.
The sting of teeth piercing fur and flesh didn't matter when the blood from his body dripped over the wound and into her. Cascading down his leg, wending like a rushing river over his paw, falling gentle as rain to mix as one. Love... the greatest healing of them all. Máire's words, indistinct and mute, yet powerful in nature, healing his body just as he was now healing hers.
Color returned to her cheeks. Flesh mended itself together seamlessly. The iron grip of small fingers on the hilt of a sword. In a blinding flash, she vaulted from the ground, leaping over the flames which threatened to consume the vampire. Disbelief and shock were visible on Esme's face, then the absolute certainty of defeat moments before the blade sliced her head from her body.
The rush of sound returned, a broad current of shouting voices, low growls and tumbling water.
Carlisle ran forward, falling across the field when he saw his wife's head severed from her body. Vexation marking his countenance, madness blackening his heart.
Amid alliteration of claws and teeth, Rosalie battled onward until finally coming face to face with her maker. There was no kindness in her eyes, nor sympathy for what he'd become. Only anger and resentment for the choices of a young girl lost. Grief over a future cruelly ripped away by both human and immortal alike. Monsters without souls.
He was infinitely stronger than she, half a millennia to her century. Yet the biting core of hatred that drove her made her movements swift, the blows of her fist mighty. Malignant. It ran through her brain, the most coarse definition of the word, medieval in consequence.
If the eye offends thee, pluck it out.
Hands that had once been soft and plump, never having done more than caress the beautiful fabric of taffeta and lace, now turned into weapons of destruction, scalpels made of fingernails obliterating her face from his sight.
The correlation marked the first of many blows intended to torture, to deceive. Each came with a promise of swift death, only to be eased back enough to fill his cup of suffering to the brim, until finally boiling over in an explosion of pain. Only when the last blond hair was plucked from his scalp,each instrument of healing broken beyond repair, did she allow the wolves to cleave arms and legs from his body. In a final act of willful defiance, she tore out his throat, silencing the anguished screams of betrayal and pleas for his life.
Carlisle Cullen was nothing more than rubble.
Edward watched with vacant, emotionless eyes. Nothing in them save the innate desire to kill and take what he deemed his. Her scent permeated his nose, mingled with the dog parrying in front of him. Wretched beast of filthy blood, a blot on the landscape of the supernatural world. Their lot cast far beneath the immortal existence of the undead. Edward's mouth twisted with the simplicity of Jacob Black's thoughts. Hunt...kill... Bella... destroy...
But, his eyes turned black as pitch when the image of her naked, writhing body projected forward in a deadly game of wits. Jealousy, raw and unbridled, seethed out from every pore of Edward's body. Unclean... filth... then from across the field, he stared at the woman fallen, she who was to be his mate. Whore. The mea maxima culpa, sealing his fate.
It was the last of the three that tipped the scales, sending Jacob and the pack into a wild rage of unbridled animosity. An insult of their own, the Alpha's mate, friend and sister. A thousand thoughts raced forward from their minds, causing Edward's brain to swell against his skull. The careful dissection of images and thoughts, maneuver and dodge, difficult to control.
Standing on the precipice of jagged rock with the waterfall crashing and the gateway of her people behind her, the stirrings of the magic within her body long held dormant rose to the surface. As if in a dream, an updraft of wind blew her mahogany locks above her shoulders, the dome of power surrounding she and Leah pulsating rapidly with the fight. It called to them, a siren song of vengeance and war. Mathúin, Embry and Máire. Each joined outstretched hands, with Leah and Bella standing between them.
Blood of my blood.
Family.
Two scorned women, souls scourged by men who had claimed to love them. Black and red, the midnight hue of blue and gray, darker than a stormy dawn. A rainbow of pain and aggression, the myriad of color reflecting the sins of man and pain of broken hearts bursting forth in a grim display of light while they lifted their countenance to the sky.
The blow knocked Edward off his feet. Silence pounded violently in his ears. There was nothing. Not the wind in the trees nor the birds in the sky, leaving him completely defenseless, weak without power while the wolves descended on his door.
"He's mine..." the double timbre of the Alpha order shoved the warriors backward. The cold one lay prone beneath Jacob's paw.
Slowly fur receded into skin and for the first time, Edward looked directly into the eyes of Jacob Black and certain death.
Chest heaving, dripping with sweat, a shaft of light shone down through the trees, illuminating the modern man as powerful warrior imbued with the might of the spirits.
The cold one shuddered beneath his shadow. Arms and legs secured to the ground by the surrounding pack, the foot of Jacob Black slowly crushing his throat. Still he fought, the defiance of innate selfishness pinned to the very core of his being. Eyes narrowed into slits, he hissed with disgust, "You touched what is mine."
A wicked smile curled the corners of Jacob's lips. The heat of his warm breath sensually caressed Edward's cold face when he bent low, whispering in his ear. "She liked it." The backs of his fingers smoothed lightly over Edward's cheek, then grasped his bronze hair tightly, holding his head in place. "My hands on her body, writhing in my bed. My mate. My soul. My love."
Then he rose with a gaze penetrating Edward Cullen's cold eyes. "You'll never look on her face again."
In a silent signal, Jacob wrenched the vampire's head from his body, twisting with no more effort than opening a bottle cap. The sound of screeching metal echoed through the forest while the wolves tore his limbs apart at the same moment.
A chorus of howls rang forth with the defeat of their enemy. The pack gathered the rubble that had once been human men and women, arms, hands, fingers, blinking eyes, all trying to reconnect themselves like some awful medical puzzle.
Jacob turned his back, strode across the field, transforming into the wolf just short of Bella's feet. Bowing low before her, he waited until her fingers were tightly wrapped in his fur before shooting through the trees, down the side of the mountain in a race toward home.