I cling onto Alex as he runs in the direction of the clearing. He speeds us along but he's making sure to be careful about my ankle.
A wave of pain shoots through my body and I groan. I feel Alex starting to slow down.
"Are you ok?"
"Yeah, never better," I rasp out. "It's not like I have a broken ankle of anything. My ribs are killing me."
"They are more than likely broken." He pauses and comes to a complete stop. "I'm sorry."
"For what?" Alex looks worried. Scared, almost.
"For you getting hurt. Having to witness what happened with Victoria." I grimace at the memory. "I never wanted you to see me like that. Witnessing the monster that I used to be."
"What happened?"
"The monster was close to breaking the surface when I was on the battlefield. I haven't been like that in a long time. I used to be a machine for the Volturi, I was trained to be the best. I suppressed everything so that I wouldn't be what they wanted me to be. I wasn't even using my power on the battlefield. I didn't need it. But, I heard your scream. It was like my whole world stopped. Every restraint I had started to break. My only thought was getting to you and to protect you. When I saw what Victoria was about to do, I lost all sense of control. The monster broke free and I gladly let him out. I felt that I failed you. I said everything was going to be ok. That you would be ok and nothing bad would happen to you. My only thought was to kill her and to make sure she would pay for hurting you. I should have kept a better control over myself. I never wanted you to be afraid of me. I don't want you to be afraid of me."
I look up at him in silence. This was a whole new side to Alex that I never witnessed before. "I'm not afraid of you. I wasn't too thrilled about what happened in the moment, but I'm not afraid. It's hard to suppress the tendencies of how you used to be. Who you used to be. You were with them for almost one hundred and fifty years. You've only been free for fifty years. It will take a long time to get out of that habit. You aren't the man you used to be back then. I've seen a light in you. You were only acting on instinct. I'm alive because of you."
Alex cracked a small smile. "What would I ever do without you?"
"Wither away and die alone," I reply dramatically.
Alex just laughs. "I love you."
"I love you too." I stare at him in silence before remembering the dilemma at hand. "We probably need to go. Edward and Bella are probably waiting for us, along with everyone else."
He sighs. He nods and speeds off. Alex's brow furrows in thought. I can almost see the wheels turning inside his head.
"Are you ok?" I ask him.
"I was worried that this would happen. They finally decided to intercede. It's funny actually." The Volturi.
"What's funny?"
"They chose this exact moment before interceding. They had plenty of opportunities to stop this before it got this far."
I pause in thought as Alex continues to make his way through the forest.
"They wanted us to lose," I respond.
"I believe that no one in Italy would mourn if the newborns reduced the size of the Cullen family." Alex clenches his teeth in anger.
"Alex, calm down." Alex let's out an unnecessary breath.
"Sorry. Just my theory on why it took them this long before interceding. Edward will know for certain when they come to the clearing."
"Your theory is correct. Aro figured out Alice's visions and the blind spot that she has. She was letting Jane make the decisions all along. Do you know what Aro wants?" I have a pretty good guess on what he wants.
"Edward read his thoughts when we were back in Italy. He mentioned about what was going in that mind of his. Aro wants to further enhance his guard. He wants me back. He also wants Edward and Alice to join. He feels that they would strengthen their hold over everyone and everything." Alex pauses.
"What aren't you telling me?"
Alex glances down at me while he continues to run. "Aro wants you also. Desperately. He's thought about having someone kidnap you and change you in Italy. Isolating you from everything until you would give into his requests."
Terror engulfs me. "By torturing me you mean." Alex growls.
"They aren't going to touch you."
"Is that one of the reasons why you've been so overprotective lately? I've felt that you and Edward have been hovering. Rosalie's gotten worse. She's always hovered over me but I felt that her danger antennae has been going berserk."
Alex chuckles. "Yes. That's partly the reason. Another reason has been Victoria and the lingering danger." I hum in response.
"Your not going to stop hovering are you? I'm not out of the woods just yet."
"Nope. You will just have to deal with my overprotective nature."
I smile in response. "I could live with that."
Alex cracks a smile before he makes it to the clearing. He slows down and jogs over to my family.
My family are standing together in the middle of the field. Edward and Bella are standing along with them. I smile tiredly at the sight of them.
I also notice the pack still in their wolf forms huddled together in a circle. Their furry heads raise as we get closer.
Rosalie's eyes widen at the sight of me. I guess I looked really bad.
"Sophie!" She wizzes over to me. I jump at her sudden movement. Alex growls in response. She just rolls her eyes. "Calm down grumpy." She cradles my head and looks me over.
"Hey Rosalie," I reply weakly. I start to cough which causes more blood to sprinkle out of my mouth. I tiredly place my head against Alex's chest. Rosalie freezes at the sight.
"Carlisle!" I wince at the sound of her screaming in fright.
Carlisle is soon in front of me. I can tell he looks worried. He softly touches my arm and head that has caked my hair in blood. He looks at my injured ankle and I gasp in pain at the sensation of his hand on it.
"I need to get you home. Your ankle is broken and I'm worried that you have broken ribs. I want to make sure that they haven't punctured a lung. I also want to make sure that you don't have a concussion. You can speak just fine correct?" I nod tiredly. "Sophie, I want you to say something."
"Say what? That I feel like a dump truck ran me over." I groan at the pain that continues to overcome my body.
"Looks like she didn't crush your windpipe. I wouldn't talk too much for right now." Carlisle gingerly touches my neck. "Bruises are starting to form." I run a hand over my neck. Victoria probably left bruises behind from her hand being wrapped around my throat. "Alex, thank you."
"Don't worry about it. I'm just glad that I got to her in time." I let out a yawn and feel that my eyes are growing heavy.
Alex softly shakes me. I groan in annoyance. "Sophie, I need you to remain awake. You can't go to sleep yet." I huff in annoyance.
"Carlisle, I'm tired," I tell him.
"That's what I'm afraid of. We need to get you home."
"Carlisle, we can't. They will be here in three minutes. They will just ask questions if she's not here," replies Alice.
"Are you guys idiots. Look at the state she's in. She looks like she's going to croak at any moment." My eyes snap open at the deep voice and glare at Paul.
Alex growls at his response. "I would shut your mouth if I were you." Paul growls at him.
"Paul, will you please calm down," I tell him. "I'm fine." I cough as soon as the words leave my lips. More blood sprinkles out. Spoke to soon.
"No your not. Take her back now or I will." Alex pulls me into him and takes a step back.
"Touch her and see what happens." Paul starts to shake in anger.
"Paul calm down. Touch me and I will neuter your ass." Paul stops shaking but growls at my response. He opens his mouth to respond when we are interrupted by a bark.
"Leah, don't!" I turn my head at the sound of Edward shouting.
Leah, who's still in wolf form, lunges at a vampire that emerged from the woods. She's no match for him. She tries to take a bite from him but he dodges and is able to get his hands on her. I hear a bark and Jacob goes to save her. He pushes the vampire away from Leah and jumps on top of him. I watch as the vampire spins around and wraps his arms around Jacob's body.
I watch in horror as the vampire squeezes his arms and you soon hear a crack. Jacob instantly starts whining in pain and goes limp. The others in the pack lunge at the vampire and tear him to shreds. He's soon no more and Jacob then turns back into his human form.
"Jake!" I watch as Bella runs over to him. Everyone in the pack then turn back into their human forms as well. I quickly turn my head away from them so I wouldn't see them stark naked. Alex chuckles.
"It's fine. They have shorts on now." I slowly turn my head back and sure enough, each of them have shorts on.
"Thank goodness. I did not want to see that." I feel my muscles getting stiff and wiggle in his arms. "Can you please let me down? I need to stretch my legs."
My boyfriend shakes his head. "No, your hurt. I don't want you to injure yourself further."
"I'm going to further injure myself if I stay like this. Just sit me down on the rock right there. I'll be careful." Alex groans in annoyance.
"Fine." He goes over to the rock that I pointed out, and gently sets me down on it. I sigh in content as I stretch my legs out.
I look over at Carlisle who is crouched down next to Jacob. I turn my head to witness Paul walking over to me.
"You ok?" he asks me. I nod in reply. "I heard your scream. Didn't know what to think. I'm just glad your alive. You look like crap though."
"Thanks, Paul," I reply dryly. "Is he ok?" I nudge my head in the direction of Jacob.
Paul shakes his head. "I don't know. He's badly hurt. Doc says his bones are crushed. He will need to reset them properly. We have to go though. Those evil vamps of yours are coming and we can't be here when they come." I nod. The Volturi won't uphold our truce that we have with the pack.
"Be careful." I don't know why I'm concerned for his safety.
Paul snorts. "Always am. I'll see you later." Paul turns his head to Alex. "Take care of her. Make sure she doesn't die." Alex nods his head and Paul gives me one last stare before turning around and running over to Jacob. I only watch as the pack hold up Jacob and run out of the clearing and into the direction of La Push.
I absentmindedly rub my hand on my bloody arm. Smearing the blood onto my hand. I barely register the growl before Jasper and Alex are crouched down behind me. I turn my head and then take notice of a girl with red eyes.
Bree Tanner.
Bree's red eyes, stares at the blood that travels down my arm. Her hands dig into the ground and moves her body into a position where she will lunge towards me.
"Don't move," says Alex.
Bree freezes and stares at him.
"Alex," Carlisle puts a hand on his shoulder. Alex glances at him and sighs. He releases his control over Bree but backs up closer to me. Jasper takes a step further towards her.
"How can you stand it?" she gasps out.
"You have to. You need to gain control," replies Carlisle.
"What's going on?" asks Bella. "How is she still alive?"
"Bree Tanner. She refused to attack and try to kill anyone. She just stood back and watched. Carlisle and Esme offered her asylum if she wouldn't attack anyone. They think that they can help her." I look over at Bree in pity.
She doesn't deserve this. This wasn't her fault and she was about to pay the price for Victoria's decisions.
"Should we move away?" replies Bella.
Edward shakes his head. "No time. They are almost here."
"One minute," interrupts Alice. She's fidgeting in agitation.
I look up at Alex. "Everything's going to be ok," he tells me.
My nerves are currently going haywire. I can only nod, not trusting my voice.
I shift as Alex helps me stand up. Being mindful on not putting any weight on my ankle. He holds me by the waist as I lean into him for support.
My whole family look straight ahead. I follow their gaze and look into the direction they are staring at.
The thick smoke from the bonfire sits still in the air. A small gust of wind pushes it away. Making way for the guards to make their appearance.
I take in a breath. The red-eyed evil vampires are here.
So only two more chapters of Eclipse to go. Can't believe that Breaking Dawn is almost here. I have big plans for it and I cannot wait for ya'll to read it. Do you have any suggestions on what I should do? Thank you for reading this fanfiction of mine. Until next time!