BELLA
I was in the middle of the clearing. Wolves, the Cullens and red-eyed vampires surrounded me. They were all fighting. Vampires slammed against the wolves. Wolves tore apart the vampires. Slowly, more and more red-eyed vampires entered the clearing until the wolves were outnumbered by hundreds of human-drinking corpses.
The Cullens were picked off first. They were torn up, limb by limb by Victoria and her army, and then I watched as Vicotira poured accelerant and lit a match on a pile of their extremities and heads. The smoke covered my gaze and when it went away the Cullens were gone. All that was left of their bodies were ashes.
As I looked around me, I saw the wolves up against hundreds of vampires with red eyes. Victoria's army kept multiplying, the more I looked around. As her army grew, the wolves began to whimper and falter in their counterattacks. The pack's blood was everywhere in the clearing, covering the grass, and their whimpers grew and became louder and louder until it was all I heard.
I woke up with a start, from a nightmare, trembling, and shaky, in the crook of Paul's arm. The wind was so loud against the nylon tent if Paul's massive form wasn't beside me, I feel like the tent would have blown away. I rolled out of Paul's body, onto my back, laying on my sleeping bag, placing my hands on the sides of my temple as I took in my surroundings.
It was clear from the lack of light that it was still the middle of the night, but I wasn't quite sure, considering I was in the confines of a tent. "What time is it?" I asked in a shaky voice, still recovering from my nightmare. I looked to my right and saw Paul's eyes closed and breathing even. Paul was dead asleep.
It was probably better to leave him be, and let him catch up on sleep but my nightmare was causing me to hyperventilate. I rubbed my hands in circles against my temple as I tried deep breathing but it didn't stop my body from shaking or my lip from quivering. I was on the verge of tears.
And then they just decided to spill out. I was gasping, feeling like I was trying to grab on to the thin air but it was impossible to get enough, as tears flowed down my face. I sat up in my sleeping bag, wrapped my arms around my legs over the fabric, and let my head fall between my knees as I tried to catch my breath. As each sob wracked through my body, my body convulsed and shook.
I kept sobbing, like a baby, alone, twitching and terrified, in the pitch-black tent. Seconds, or minutes, later I felt a hand on my spine, stroking circles over the back of my shirt. Then I felt fingers pulling gently through my hair, from the top, down to my split ends. Slowly my breathing evened out, and beneath the sound of my sobs, I heard Paul whispering that everything was going to be alright.
My sobs turned to silent tears, and then those slowly dried out. I sat facing the tent door, with my arms around my legs that were pulled up, and my chin resting on my knees. "I had a nightmare," I whispered into my hair, which was half in front of my face. Paul kept stroking my back with one hand and brushing my hair with his others as he spoke. "It wasn't real. Whatever it was that scared you wasn't real." "I know. I just– in my nightmare the whole pack was outnumbered by hundreds of vampires. I saw you all die. I just woke up terrified." I said.
"There's only going to be around twenty new leeches that can't even fight and don't know what they're up against. We have the upper hand. We're all going to survive this battle and then things will go back to normal" Paul said earnestly.
The more Paul spoke, I realized how dark and fictitious my nightmare really was. It was make-believe. My subconscious was just scared. Paul and the pack had a real plan they'd worked on for hours, days. Their plan was palpable and concrete. I let out a sigh. "I know, I trust you. I trust the pack." I said as I turned to look at him.
At some point, while I was crying, Paul must have turned on a battery-powered lamp because it sat at Paul's feet, giving a dim light to the tent's interior. As I looked up at Paul's face, the dim light reflected off his chocolate eyes, and soft dark skin, and I truly realized how gorgeous he was behind his tough exterior.
As I gazed into his eyes, I felt like I was seeing him for the first time. He was gorgeous, an undeniably perfect specimen. His muscles were massive, sexy and intimidating, yet I always felt safe in his presence. Memories of every time he'd ever comforted and been there for me whizzed through my mind as I stared at his kind, inviting, seductive form.
If this was our last day together, I wanted to tell Paul everything. That, he was my best friend, and then he slowly became my entire life. I fell for him hard. Everything he said to me made me smile. His presence shifted my entire life. My eyes fell from his as I tried to collect my thoughts.
Then I looked back up at him as he continued to play with my hair. "You mean a lot to me, Paul. You were someone who– I tolerated at first." I said with a cringe. "But then you became my best friend. And then you became my entire life. Everything you do makes me smile. Your presence shifted my entire life, for the better. I think– I'm falling in love with you." I whispered.
Then I felt embarrassed and realized if he didn't feel the same way I'd be devastated. I suddenly felt lost. I turned my chin downwards, and let my eyes fall to the floor of the tent, as I tried to catch my increasing breath and then suddenly my chin was being brought up by strong fingers and my breathing stopped altogether as I peered into Paul's eyes.
"I love you so much, Bella Swan. I realized I loved you more than a friend the day you came back from Italy and I've been waiting for you ever since. You make me feel complete and grounded. I'm never bored, angry or sad around you. You're my whole world, and one day I want to fucking marry you. But if you'll be my girlfriend, I'd settle for that." He smiled as he held my chin to look him in the eyes.
"Yes," I mumbled into his strong grip. "I'd like that." I giggled with a smile. And then he got this serious look. And I furrowed my brows trying to guess his intention. Before I could rack my brain, he leaned forward, placed his other hand on my face, and brought his lips down to mine.
I felt a zap of electricity as we kissed. It felt like the whole world moved on its axis and the ground fell out beneath me. I couldn't concentrate on anything but his lips. I opened my mouth a little in a gasp of amazement, and he took that as an invitation to let his tongue slide into my mouth. It felt amazing. The whole world fell away, and it was just me and Paul with our mouths in sync.
He reluctantly slowly pulled away with a smirk and gave me one last chaste kiss on my mouth before letting me breathe. I took in a gulp of air, as I tried to catch my bearings and tried to stay sitting up. He supported my back as I swayed back and forth. But I didn't care, I couldn't wipe the ecstatic smile from my face. He grinned back.
Paul laid back down and gently pulled my body down with his. I laid my cheek on his chest as he held me by my waist over the sleeping bag. "That was the best kiss of my life." He grinned. "It was." I gasped out, still breathless. His grin matched mine.
"We should get some sleep, Chica," he said solemnly. "Yeah, we should," I said as I yawned. I buried my face into Paul's chest and prayed for a dreamless sleep. I wrapped my arms around his body as my breathing evened out and my eyelids slowly fell.
.
.
.
The morning of the battle, I woke up sweaty, disoriented and foggy. I was tightly embraced in Paul's arms, with my head leaning into the dip in his shoulder and my body encased in my sleeping bag. I was swaddled in warmth. We fit perfectly together. I've never felt more safe, wrapped between Paul's muscles.
He was brushing his hands through my hair like he always did when I woke up. But this time, as I lifted my head to look at him, he gently moved his oversized fingers to my chin, tilted my head up, and placed a wet, long kiss on my lips. I gasped at the intensity, and parted my lips, allowing his tongue to enter my mouth again. Our tongues fought for dominance and then he pulled away with a smirk to let me breathe. I smiled so hard, I thought my face would break open.
"I love you." Paul said to me with so much earnest emotion. "I love you, too." I grinned back up at him. Our bodies were intertangled and I felt so comfortable and at home in his embrace. He looked at me apologetically and then said, "I have to go phase and see how much time there is until the battle." "Okay," I mumbled, reluctant to let him leave, as I pulled out of his arms and started to unzip my sleeping bag.
"You can stay here, and keep lying down if you want." He said with a frown. "You don't have to get up if you're still tired." He said while getting up, and heading towards the tent door. "No, I'm up already. Plus I'm kind of overheating in the sleeping bag, I need to change. Go. I'm fine." I said as I ushered him out.
"Okay, okay ma'am. You got it." He saluted and then chuckled. I looked up annoyed at him, but then he so quickly, I didn't have time to react, placed a chaste kiss on my lips and then as quickly as it came, my anger dissolved into adoration. He pulled away, then opened the tent door, and left. I zipped it back closed, and then opened my duffel bag to scrounge for clothes. I took off my overheating sweatpants and long-sleeved shirt and put on some deodorant.
I proceeded to search in my bag and pulled out underwear, a new bra, jeans and a purple knit top and pulled them on hastily. I then pulled on my socks and boots, and unzipped the tent, and walked out onto the rock.
A little ways from the tent, I saw a wolf curled in on itself sleeping on the rock. It was a light brown colour. It looked kind of like Seth. He looked so cute. I turned my head away from the small wolf towards the forest, adjacent to the cliffs and rocks, and saw Paul steadily walking out from the treeline, towards me. I smiled, ran towards him, almost tripping on the way and jumped into Paul's arms.
We hugged for a couple of very long seconds before he put me down by my waist, letting his fingers linger a little longer than normal and then releasing me, to hold my hand instead. "Seth's by the tent. He'll be here with you the whole time. If anything goes wrong up here, he'll let us know and any one of us could be here in minutes." He confirmed. "Okay," I said. "I trust you."
"I know you do Chica, I love your unwavering trust in me. I love it." He smirked as he placed a chaste kiss on my lips. "The battle starts soon. Seth's awake now." Paul pointed out. "I'll have to head out to the clearing in about five." He said solemnly. "Stay safe here. Try to stay sitting and maybe don't fall off the cliff or scrape up your knees too much." He smirked at me. "I'll try." I grumbled in annoyance, but as I looked at his face my furrowed eyebrows changed to a small smile as I spoke again. "I promise I'll be safe." I whispered.
Then I let go of his hand and leaned into his chest. We stood there for a couple of minutes before he reluctantly said he had to go. We kissed goodbye, and sparks flew again. Electricity shot up my body as my lips parted for him. Our lips moved in sync, with so much ferocity. And then slowly the kiss died out, Paul pulled away, I took in a deep breath and he kissed my forehead with finality.
"I love you, be safe." He said as he walked towards the treeline. "Promise you'll be careful!" I called back. Paul turned around to face me. And said, "I promise." And then as Paul walked into the forest, Seth ran up to me and sat down beside me, brushing his soft fur along my legs.